N Koreans in Bangkok embassy

By Jill McGivering
BBC, Bangkok

Ten North Koreans have entered the Japanese embassy in Bangkok, thought to be seeking asylum there.

Japanese officials say they cannot hold official interviews with the family until interpreters arrive from the Japanese embassy in Seoul late on Thursday.

Thai police say the ten are part of the same extended family - four men, four women and two children under 10 years of age.

They apparently have documents stating they are from North Korea, but no passports.

Japanese embassy officials say the family walked into the compound together at about 10.30 in the morning local time. They were not armed and did not have explosives. They were shouting that they were from North Korea.

Officials say they do not yet know exactly who these people are and what they want and have called for an official translator from the Japanese embassy in Seoul to handle the interviews.

A Thai police spokesman described the North Koreans as an ordinary family, more likely to be economic migrants than political refugees, but details are still unclear.

It is thought to be the first time North Koreans have sought refuge in an embassy in Thailand. Previously there have been several instances of North Koreans seeking asylum in Japanese embassies in China.

In May last year a group of North Koreans were forcibly removed from a Japanese embassy by the Chinese authorities, an episode which caused a diplomatic stand-off between Tokyo and Beijing.