Five North Koreans found at sea last weekend as they crossed the maritime border into South Korea turned out to be an elite scientist and his family members from Pyongyang, a local daily in the South reported Thursday.

Chosun Ilbo quoted an unnamed government source as saying the defectors included the scientist, his son and his son's girlfriend, and all three were graduates of the prestigious Pyongsong Institute of Science in Pyongyang. The two others are members of his brother's family.

An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry on Thursday declined to confirm the report, saying the defectors' identities are still under investigation, but acknowledged that all five have expressed their wishes to defect to the South.

The five apparently became disillusioned with North Korea after leader Kim Jong Un came to power. They traveled to the port city of Wonsan on North Korea's east coast to buy a fishing boat, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, a woman in her 40s who used to work for the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland until 2010 has also fled to South Korea via China, the report said.

It is the first time a member of the committee has defected to the South.