A North Korean organization on Monday issued a rare expression of thanks towards the Japanese government, in a positive statement thanking Tokyo for its assistance in helping DPRK sailors in trouble at sea.

In comments carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society was reported to have delivered the message to the Japanese authorities “through a relevant channel.”

The organization was reported to have thanked Tokyo “for having offered humanitarian assistance several times so that the DPRK crewmen who had been distressed in recent years returned