North Korean Fishermen Attack Russian Coast Guard, Spiking Tensions Between Countries

North Korean fishermen who were fishing illegally inside the Russian exclusive economic zone attacked Russian Coast Guard men who had detained another North Korean fishing schooner. Several of the Russian crew were injured by gunfire as were several North Koreans, one of them fatally.

Information from the Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti, or FSB (Russia’s federal security service) said 11 North Korean motorboats and the two schooners along with their crew of 161 were detained by the Russian Coast Guard.

North Korea shares a border with Russia’s Far East about 100 km southwest of Vladivostok, a port city on Russia’s east coast facing the Sea of Japan. Russian authorities have usually been tolerant of the poachers who make claims that they drifted into the waters due to bad weather or mechanical problems with their boats. At worst, fishing gear along with any catch might be seized but with the crew and ships being released with no further ado.

What has changed in this latest incident is the North Korean fishermen used armed resistance on Russian border guards and that calls for a sterner response. It is not legal for private citizens to own firearms without permission from the authorities and those who defy this rule put themselves and their families at risk of being arrested and sent to a North Korean prison camp. The brutal conditions of the camps are well known.

Knowing this, Moscow officials can assume that the guns are government-issued and used as protection by the poachers. The “sterner response” by Moscow may be a signal to North Korea that they must stop protecting their poachers in this manner.

These recent events have highlighted some growing animosity between the countries over the past few months. The North Koreans recently detained a Russian trawler and its crew and followed that with an anti-Russian media campaign. North Korea continues to test missiles and weapons close to Russia’s border and ignores Moscow when it complains about the “nuclear problem” in North Korea.

The demand that North Korea stop its poaching activities may be a clue that Moscow is willing to reduce fuel supplies and apply other restrictions if the “un-neighborly actions” continue.

The armed North Korean fishermen face a criminal case that was opened on Sept. 18 by the Russian Far Eastern branch of the investigative committee. Under Article 317 of the [Russian] Criminal Code, an assault on the life of a law enforcement officer carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.