About 400 North Koreans Fishermen Detained In Russia

Russian coastguard has detained more than 400 North Korean fishermen this month on allegations that they were illegally operating in Russian territorial waters.

Russia and China, which share land borders with North Korea, have the closest diplomatic relations with the insular North Korean state. 

Russia’s coast guard announced that 262 North Korean fishermen were detained between Sept 23 to 27, 2019 with about 30,000 allegedly poached squids seized in the round-up.

“The sailors were detained for poaching in exclusively Russian waters’, a spokeswoman said in televised comments.

State media reported that the fishing vessels were being held in the Russian ports of Nakhodka and Posyet, within 200 kilometres of the North Korean border.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, which oversees the border authorities, said that 161 North Korean fishermen had been detained on poaching allegations.

The Federal Security Service said in a statement that during the detention of a crew of one of those vessels, the North Korean side fired gunshots, wounding four Russian servicemen.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned North Korea’s charge d’affaires over that incident.