Eight North Korean fishermen 'want to return home' after washing ashore in Japan

Eight North Korean fishermen have washed ashore in Japan after their boat capsized.

The men, who have been taken into custody by Japanese authorities, say they are from North Korea and wish to return home.

It is not thought the men are defectors or spies but that their wooden boat had broken and they had drifted into foreign waters.

Police in the Akita prefecture said they found the men late on Thursday after receiving a call about suspicious men standing around at the seaside in Yurihonjo town.

Police said the Korean-speaking men were in good health and identified themselves as North Koreans who were fishing before the boat broke down and washed ashore.

It comes just days after dramatic footage emerged of a North Korean soldier desperately attempting to cross the border into the South while former comrades fire a barrage of bullets at him.

The defector was shot five times in the escape on November 13 but is reportedly on the road to recovery after being rescued by South Korean soldiers and flown to hospital by helicopter.

A separate group of defectors spoke out earlier this month and said nuclear testing has left parts of the country barren and is causing babies to be born deformed.

A group of defectors told the Research Association of Vision of North Korea how, in the North Hamgyong Province, 80 per cent of trees die and underground wells have run dry.

According to Reuters, North Korean fishermen are regularly rescued by Japanese authorities folliwing maritime accidents in regional waters.

Last week the coastguard rescued three out of 12 North Korean fishermen after their boat capsized.

This year tensions have been growing between North Korea and other global nations following several missile tests by the country’s leader Kim Jong-un.