Tokyo, Dec 26 (IANS): Japanese authorities on Tuesday will repatriate eight North Korean fishermen whose vessel washed ashore on the country's northern coast.

The eight men, who are currently at an immigration centre in Nagasaki prefecture, will be taken to Kansai airport where they will board a China-bound flight, and will continue their journey to North Korea from there, Efe news quoted government officials as saying.

They washed up on a beach in Akita prefecture after their boat broke down while squid fishing, the men told the Japanese authorities.

In November, 24 North Korean fishing boats ended up in Japanese waters.

One of the cases, which received widespread media attention, was that of a group arrested for allegedly stealing home appliances and other equipment on an islet in northern Japan, where the suspects took shelter after their boat went adrift.

The North Korean fishermen had taken a television, a motorcycle, a refrigerator, a rice cooker and other items belonging to a local fishermen's cooperative, besides causing damage to the property, according to media reports.

The number of North Korean boats that ended up on the Japanese coast were 66 in 2016, 45 in 2015, 65 in 2014 and 80 in 2013.