Pyongyang Tightens Control Over Border With China


By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter



A group of 20 people claiming to be North Korean defectors stormed into the South Korean Consulate in Beijing, China, according to sources in Beijing and Seoul Friday.

The asylum seekers barged into the mission early in the morning and are now undergoing screening procedures, through which South Korean diplomats will decide if they are truly North Korean refugees, a Seoul official said.

The South Korean government will help them come to Seoul when it has ascertained they are North Koreans defectors, the official added.

The group consists of six men and 14 women, including three boys and a girl as well as two elderly individuals in their 50s, according to the sources.

They scaled the wall of the consulate compound at around 5:50 a.m. local time, but had to wait outside the building as all the doors were closed. However, they were allowed inside the building less then an hour later as South Korean diplomats at the consulate decided to open the doors about three hours earlier than usual.

Experts believe there will be no difficulty in arranging their passage to Seoul as the Chinese government rarely interferes with North Korean defectors after they have entered foreign missions.

But some worry about the recent change of atmosphere, in which North Korea and its old communist ally, China, have been getting tougher amid the rising number of defectors.

South Korea, cautious not to provoke the North over the defector issue, has been pursuing a ``silent diplomacy’’ via behind-the-scenes negotiations with China, but these have also become more awkward due to the current situation.

According to a report by a Japanese daily, the Sankei Shimbun, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has recently ordered stronger measures in areas bordering with China to prevent people from leaving the poverty-stricken country.

Sources in Beijing estimate that currently about 120 North Korean defectors are in South Korean diplomatic facilities in China.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr