Russian border guards injured in clash with NKorean poachers

Three Russian coast guards were injured Tuesday in a clash with North Korean fishing boats in the Sea of Japan, after which 80 fishermen were detained, Russia’s FSB security service said.

The FSB security service, which controls the border and coast guard, said in a statement that guards observed two fishing vessels and 11 motor boats while on duty in Russian waters of the Sea of Japan.

The larger boat’s crew attacked coast guard officers who boarded the vessel, and three officers “received injuries of variying degrees of severity,” the FSB said.

Both vessels were eventually detained.

“Two fishing vessels and over 80 North Korean citizens were detained,” the FSB told TASS news agency. “Activities of North Korean poachers has been thwarted.”

The North Korean chargé d’affaires was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry over the incident, but no official comment was made by either diplomacy.

Russian coast guards frequently detain North Korean fishermen in the Far East, many of whom use rudimentary, illegal wooden boats. Some of them are sentenced to prison.

There are frequent disputes over fishing rights in the Sea of Japan that is surrounded by Japan, Russia and both North and South Korea.

In July, North Korea released a Russian fishing boat with a crew of 15 Russians and two South Koreans after it was detained for violating entry regulations.