Updated

Japanese authorities have indicted the North Korean captain of a boat that drifted to its coast on charges of stealing a generator from an uninhabited island.

The captain and his nine crewmembers on the dilapidated boat were rescued near a tiny island off of Hokkaido, northern Japan, in late November. Japanese police this month arrested the captain and two crewmembers on suspicion they stole a generator and appliances from a barn on the island.

Japanese media, including NHK public television, say prosecutors on Thursday charged the captain with theft. The prosecutors' office refused to confirm the Associated Press' phone inquiry from Tokyo.