South Korea Says Nutty North Seizes Fishing Boat

Officials in Seoul say North Korea has seized a South Korean fishing boat, the Daeseung that was operating in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) off the eastern coast of the Korean peninsula.

Authorities in the boat's home South Korean port of Pohang said the Daeseung had stopped sending signals after a fishing trip in the Sea of Japan, known in Korea as the East Sea, on Saturday.

South Korea's coast guard said in a statement Sunday that Pyongyang is investigating the fishing vessel for possibly operating in North Korea's exclusive economic zone. The coast guard said it was not clear where the Daeseung was operating when it was seized.

Reports say the Daeseung is being towed to the Northern port of Songjin.

Tension remains high between the Koreas amid a naval exercise carried out by the South in the Yellow Sea.

The South also recently carried out massive naval exercises with US forces in the Sea of Japan.

Background: North Korea vows 'physical response' to US exercise

The latest exercises, in the Yellow Sea, are the South's biggest-ever anti-submarine drills, with some 4,500 personnel taking part near the disputed maritime border.

Thousands of soldiers and sailors are engaging in the drills in waters near where a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, was sunk by an explosion in March.

The South blames the sinking on North Korea, which responded furiously to the exercise near the disputed maritime border. The North's official Korean Central News Agency quoted a government agency (the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland) last week as threatening to use "offensive means beyond imagination" if the South ignites a war.

South Korea has promised an "immediate counter-attack" in case of any provocation from the North.

About 30 warships and submarines, 50 aircraft and 4,500 personnel are involved in the exercise, which runs through Monday.

The drills were scheduled in response to the Cheonan sinking, which killed 46 South Korean sailors. A five-nation investigation concluded that the ship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo fired from a submarine. Pyongyang denies any involvement and has demanded to inspect the evidence.