The Japan Coast Guard took two men who it said left North Korea last month for fishing to a port in Aomori, northeastern Japan, on Monday after their wooden boat was found adrift in the Sea of Japan.

The coast guard and police plan to question the two men in more detail about their identity and the purpose of their voyage aboard a coast guard patrol boat anchored at the port, they said.

[The 2nd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters]

The two men have said they left a North Korean port in mid-December and their engine broke down while they were fishing later in the month, according to the coast guard.

"We want to go home," they were quoted as saying.

They also said there were five crew members on their vessel, which is 10 meters long and has Korean characters on the bow, when it left North Korea but three of them had fallen overboard into the sea due to bad weather, according to the coast guard.

The boat was found by local fishermen in waters off Fukaura, Aomori Prefecture, on Sunday morning.

[The 2nd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters]