A small wooden boat carrying four North Koreans who navigated across the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea is seen being towed. (Yonhap)

The South Korean Navy detected a North Korean ship requesting rescue near the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea and temporarily crossed the NLL to provide humanitarian assistance, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said on the same day the military dispatched a patrol ship at 2:16 p.m. after capturing an unknown ship that was being held in waters 200 kilometers east of Jejin in the East Sea and about 3 kilometers north of the NLL.

“A patrol vessel visually detected a request for rescue from an unknown drifting ship, and as it approached it, it was confirmed to be a North Korean ship,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff explained.

It was reported that the personnel on the North Korean ship sent a rescue request by waving a white object.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the ship, which had been adrift for 10 days, requested food and water and had hopes of returning to the North. Accordingly, the military authorities provided supplies on a humanitarian basis as requested by the ship.