[USFK Forums] N. Korean seeks asylum in school in China - report [Reuters]

[C. Y. Lee]

[Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005] Following is Reuter's news dispatched from Seoul:
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N.Korean seeks asylum in school in China - report

Wed 30 Nov 2005 4:10 AM ET

SEOUL, Nov 30 (Reuters) - A North Korean woman has entered a South Korean school in the Chinese city of Dalian and is seeking asylum, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a relative as saying on Wednesday.

The refugee, who is in her mid-thirties, has requested the protection of the South Korean embassy after entering the school in the northeastern Chinese province, the relative based in Seoul was quoted as saying.A South Korean foreign ministry official said he was aware of the report but could not immediately confirm it.

"We have been in contact with our mission there and are following the report," said the official, who declined to be identified.Some North Korean refugees seeking asylum have in the past entered South Korean-run schools in China, rather than diplomatic missions, because security is generally more relaxed.But because the schools are not diplomatic missions, the refugees risk being detained by Chinese police and sent back to the North.Seven North Koreans who entered a school in the Chinese city of Yentai earlier this year were sent back.

Seoul is in principle willing to accept all North Korean refugees requesting asylum, but it is also wary of provoking the North, which is sensitive over the issue of refugees.

There are believed to be at least 200,000 North Koreans hiding in China waiting for the chance to leave for another country, notably South Korea, according to human rights groups in the South. Nearly 1,900 of them arrived in the South in 2004, the largest number in a single year.