3 N Korean to face trial for assaulting Russian coastal guards

Three North Korean citizens will have to face trial on charges of assaulting Russian coastal guards in the Far Eastern Primorsky Territory in September 2011, a spokeswoman for the territorial administration of the Russian Investigations Committee told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. According to Avrora Rimskaya, the criminal case was submitted to court on Tuesday. The North Koreans are charged with using force against public officers. The Criminal Code provision carries a punishment of up to ten years in prison. According to investigators, in September 2011, Russian coastal guards from the Primorye patrol boat detained North Korean fishermen who were poaching for squids in the Peter the Great Gulf. The North Koreans offered resistance and attacked and beat up two Russian coastal guards.