TOKYO (Sputnik) — The yacht cleared the Kimchaek port, the Consul added.
Earlier in the day, the consul general held a meeting with the Department for External Relations of the North Hamgyong province's administration over the yacht's detention.
"We were told that there is a permission to leave the [Kimchaek] port and the country, without any further explanations," Bochkarev told RIA Novosti, adding that the Department for External Relations claimed the vessel had already taken the sea.
On Saturday, the Russian Embassy in North Korea sent a note demanding explanation from Pyongyang over reports claiming that the North Korean coast guard had detained the Elfin yacht with athletes from Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky Territory in the Sea of Japan. Russian Far Eastern transport authorities said that the yacht had been in neutral waters at the time of the incident.
Following the reports on the yacht's detention, the Russian Foreign Ministry, its mission in Vladivostok and the Consulate General in North Korea were tasked with working to resolve the situation surrounding the incident through diplomatic channels.