A wooden boat carrying four North Korean residents drifted into waters south of the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean maritime border, in the East Sea last week, the military said Thursday.

Axar.az reports, citing Yonhap, "The military detected a small North Korean wooden boat in waters some 100 kilometers east of Goseong in Gangwon Province on the morning of May 27," a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said.

The four residents have been transferred to a relevant institution for questioning, following the joint operation with the Coast Guard, the official said.

All four North Koreans, who are believed to have likely crossed into South Korean waters accidentally, were known to have expressed their intent to return to the North.

The latest case came about three months after the military discovered a wooden boat carrying two North Koreans in the Yellow Sea on March 7.

Seoul has sought to repatriate the two North Koreans, who also expressed their wish to return to the North, to no avail as Pyongyang has not responded to any inter-Korean communications.

South Korea's unification ministry, in charge of inter-Korean affairs, reaffirmed such a stance in regard to the latest group of North Koreans who drifted southward.

"Should the North Korean residents wish to return to the North, we will seek a swift and safe repatriation on humanitarian grounds," the ministry said.

Some observers raised the possibility that the two Koreas may have consultations over the repatriation of the North Koreans, following the inauguration of President Lee Jae-myung, who has left open the possibility of resuming dialogue with Pyongyang.