US Defense Secretary Mattis visits Korean DMZ

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US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and S. Korea on the first day of his two-day visit to S. Korea.

Mattis arrived in the country on Friday morning amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Asia next week.

During the visit, Mattis said the goal of the US was not war but a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the peninsula, according to local media reports.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo visit the truce village of Panmunjom, S. Korea, October 27, 2017. /Reuters Photo

He said the United States stood shoulder-to-shoulder with S. Korea against threats from the DPRK.

Inside the Joint Security Area (JSA), soldiers of S. Korea and the DPRK stand face-to-face just meters away from each other. It marked the US secretary of defense's first visit to Panmunjom inside the DMZ.

Mattis, who took office in January, made his first trip to S. Korea in February, but he did not visit the JSA at that time.

DPRK to release S. Korean fishing boat

As Mattis visited the Korean peninsula, the DPRK said it would release a S. Korean fishing boat on Friday after it was found illegally in DPRK's waters, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) of the DPRK.

KCNA said late Thursday that according to a relevant institution, a S. Korean fishing boat was captured for deliberately intruding into the DPRK waters for fishing.

"However, the DPRK side decided to repatriate the boat and its crew from a humanitarian point of view, taking into account the fact that all the crewmen honestly admitted their offense, repeatedly apologizing and asking for leniency," said the KCNA.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un visit a shoe factory in a photo released by DPRK's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 19, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The DPRK authorities will repatriate the boat and its crew at the designated waters of the military boundary line in the “East Sea” Friday afternoon, it said.

Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul remain tense as the DPRK accuses S. Korea of following the United States in pressurizing its northern neighbor for its nuclear and missile programs with joint military exercises and economic sanctions.

S. Korea confirmed the missing of the fishing boat on Friday, saying that it will accept the release of the boat later in the day. The country's Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said it is "a relief" the crewmen on board would be returned.

The DPRK said it had captured the boat on October 21 and would release it at 0930 GMT on Friday.

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Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency