SEOUL - South Korea will soon repatriate 27 of 31 people from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), whose boat strayed into South Korean waters last month, the unification ministry here said Tuesday.

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The move comes after the DPRK, which previously demanded all 31 be sent back and repeatedly refused to receive only 27, requested earlier in the day that the 27 people be returned first through a sea route, according to the unification ministry.

South Korean Red Cross officials sent a message to their DPRK counterparts, notifying them the 27 will be repatriated "on humanitarian grounds," but via a land route due to weather conditions, the ministry said.

A fishing boat carrying 11 men and 20 women crossed the tense western sea border early February, and the authorities here said four of them expressed their wish to remain in the South.

South Korea's attempts to repatriate only those who wish to return home have met with accusations from the miffed DPRK authorities that Seoul has forced the four people in question into defection in a plot against Pyongyang.