South Korea returns six North Koreans stranded at sea this year

South Korea returned on Wednesday six North Koreans who had become stranded at sea earlier this year after their vessels had drifted south, Seoul's Unification Ministry said on Wednesday.

The North Koreans had expressed a desire on multiple occasions to go back home, according to the ministry.

The repatriation comes as President Lee Jae Myung, who took office on June 4, has promised to improve relations with the nuclear-armed north, saying tensions with Pyongyang have had a real negative economic impact.

Lee has called for diplomacy and dialogue with North Korea, and his administration has suspended loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border, while pushing to stop anti-North Korean leaflet campaigns

North Korea, however, did not respond to efforts by South Korea to arrange the repatriation of the six North Koreans.

Nonetheless, a North Korean patrol ship was standing by at a transfer point and the six had returned in one of their boats, a ministry official said.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies)