China to let North Koreans go

Beijing has increased security outside embassies

China says it will allow 23 North Koreans sheltering at South Korean missions in Beijing to leave the country.

The condition for their departure is that they "have not committed crime in China," said foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.

China will verify their identities before allowing them to leave, Mr Liu said.

Relations between Beijing and Seoul have been severely tested by the increasing number of North Koreans trying to gain asylum by entering foreign embassies in China.

The Xinhua report did not mention a North Korean man held by police after being dragged out of the office by Chinese guards.

The incident triggered a protest from South Korea.

The man's 15-year-old son is among those still inside.

Change of heart

In another development, two North Korean men who entered the Canadian embassy in Beijing earlier this month seeking asylum left China on Sunday, an embassy spokeswoman said.

Chinese police made an arrest inside the consulate

The first North Koreans entered the South Korean consulate on 23 May and China, which has an agreement with communist North Korea to return defectors, had insisted they be handed over to its custody.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said South Korea "fully understood and accepted" China's demand that diplomatic missions not be used as a channel for illegal immigration.

His announcement followed talks on the issue between Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and his South Korean counterpart Choi Sung-hong in Thailand.

'Humanitarian spirit'

On Friday, China said a pregnant woman among the group of North Koreans might be allowed to leave.

China will deal with the asylum seekers "in accordance with relevant international and domestic laws and in a humanitarian spirit," Mr Liu was quoted saying.

Most of the group managed to enter the South Korean visa office despite extra security measures, but two women also entered the heavily guarded main South Korean Embassy compound on Friday night.