The Japan Coast Guard has released the captain of a South Korean crab-fishing boat arrested Friday after refusing an inspection on suspicion of illegal fishing in Japan's exclusive economic zone, coast guard officials said.
The 55-year-old captain headed home with nine other crew members of the 63-ton boat after pledging to pay a 500,000 yen bail upon returning to South Korea, they said Saturday.
His boat was captured by a coast guard patrol Friday evening on the Japan Sea about 370 km northwest of the Noto Peninsula in Kanazawa Prefecture following a chase.
The crew was suspected of illegal fishing, but an inspection by the coast guard and the Fisheries Agency found it was not operating in the exclusive zone, the officials said.