China asylum row escalates

Japan says it will send a factfinding mission to China

The war of words has intensified between Japan and China over Wednesday's incursion by Chinese paramilitary police into a Japanese consulate to remove a group of North Korean asylum seekers.

China's explanation is completely unacceptable

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi

China says that a Japanese consular official gave the police permission to enter the mission in Shenyang and that the official later offered thanks for dealing with the situation.

However Japan has denied this and says it intends to send a factfinding mission to investigate the incident in the north-east Chinese city.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said that China must apologise for the incursion and hand over the five people - including a child.

Television footage broadcast in recent days shows them successfully entering the compound before being dragged out by Chinese guards despite the child's screams and protests from the Japanese diplomatic staff.

The attempt was the latest in a series by North Korean asylum seekers

Earlier reports said that only two men out of a group of five North Koreans succeeded in rushing into the Japanese consulate before being seized by Chinese police.

The footage has galvanised public opinion in Japan and increased pressure on the Japanese Government to act on the matter, especially since several people who appear to be Japanese consulate staff are shown in the footage watching the incident yet making no move to intervene.

The Japanese foreign ministry is sending an official to the consulate to look further into what happened, after admitting the reaction of the diplomats had been inadequate.

Latest incident

The asylum attempt was the latest in a series of moves by North Koreans to enter foreign embassies and consulates in China.

At least two North Koreans asylum seekers are still in the US consulate in Shenyang, where US and Chinese officials are continuing talks about their future.

In March, 25 North Koreans successfully entered the Spanish embassy in Beijing demanding political asylum in South Korea. They threatened to kill themselves if China sent them back home.

Beijing regards the tens of thousands of North Koreans in China as economic migrants who must be sent home.

But in this and similar cases, the asylum seekers were allowed to go to South Korea, prompting other groups to try similar tactics.