Irina Nomokonova, a senior aide to the Primorye Territory prosecutor, said police found and detained a group of young people who allegedly perpetrated the attack on the night of December 10.
"Investigators believe that on December 10, 2006, the suspects, in a state of mild alcoholic intoxication, assaulted the North Korean citizens, hitting and kicking them, and delivering multiple strikes with brass knuckles to the head and other parts of the body. Two of those attacked died in the hospital," she said.
She said the detainees, aged 15 to 16, are secondary school or junior college students.
The local prosecutor's office has asked the court to take two of the most aggressive assailants into custody pending trial.
Nomokonova said a special investigation group has been set up to probe the case.
Russia has seen a wave of attacks on non-whites in recent years, including an explosion at the Cherkizovsky market in northeastern Moscow August 21, which killed 11 people and injured at least 49.
St. Petersburg has also been a focus for race-hate attacks. In September, an Indian student was stabbed to death in the city and a Sudanese national attacked.
