South Korean government officials on Wednesday apologized for mismanagement in their dealing with last month’s maritime border crossing by a group of North Korean sailors.

The statement came at a special news conference on the recent defection following a joint intelligence survey led by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) alongside other government-level probes, provoked in part by allegations that the government had sought to cover-up some elements the incident.

In mid-June, a small North Korean ship carrying four sailors was discovered adrift at Samcheok port, some 150 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL),

In contrast with its initial announcement