Two new criminal cases have been opened against a group of North Korean sailors who assaulted Russian border guards in the Sea of Japan on Oct. 15.
"Presently there are preliminary investigations in six criminal cases in which six Russian border guards are recognized as victims and six North Korean citizens are accused of criminal activities," Oksana Polshakova, an official from the Far East Investigative Administration for Transport, told the Interfax news agency.
She also said that the North Korean suspects have been detained at the investigators' request.
The original incident occurred on Oct. 15 in a special economic zone in the Sea of Japan. A Russian coast guard vessel stopped a North Korean fishing vessel, the Dae Yang 10, which carried a crew of 48. The Russian side claims that some of the North Korean crew resisted. As a result, nine North Korean sailors and four Russian border guards were wounded (one of the North Koreans later died of his injuries).
