- Aug 10, 2001
- 10,420
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N. Koreans Seek Asylum in Beijing
BEIJING (AP) - Twenty North Korean asylum-seekers pushed their way past Chinese guards and rushed onto the grounds of the Spanish Embassy in Beijing on Thursday, and threatened suicide if they are sent back.
The North Koreans, including men, women and youngsters, ran through the front gate of the embassy, on a tree-lined street in the Chinese capital. One of the North Koreans struggled briefly with a Chinese guard on the gate, but broke free and rushed in with the others.
Within minutes, dozens of armed green-uniformed Chinese guards converged on the compound. A group of Spanish diplomats came out of the embassy building, talked to some of the guards, and then went back in. A man who picked up the telephone at the embassy said no one was available for comment.
The incident presented a dilemma for the Chinese government, which is a close ally of North Korea but has been criticized by human rights and aid groups for refusing to grant refugee status to North Koreans fleeing famine and repression in the hardline communist state.
A half-hour after the group ran into the compound, more than three dozen security forces from various Chinese agencies were crowded outside the embassy, forming a cordon and shooing away bystanders while shouting "Sorry, sorry" in both Chinese and English.
People who helped the North Koreans distributed written statements from the asylum-seekers, including some individual statements and one group news release that said they wanted to go to South Korea.
The statement described them as six families and three individuals. It said they totaled 25 people, but reporters only saw about 20.
"We are now at the point of such desperation and live in such fear of persecution within North Korea that we have come to the decision to risk our lives for freedom rather than passively await our doom," the group statement said.
"Some of us carry poison on our person to commit suicide if the Chinese authorities should choose once again to send us back to North Korea," said the printed-out statement, written in English.
BEIJING (AP) - Twenty North Korean asylum-seekers pushed their way past Chinese guards and rushed onto the grounds of the Spanish Embassy in Beijing on Thursday, and threatened suicide if they are sent back.
The North Koreans, including men, women and youngsters, ran through the front gate of the embassy, on a tree-lined street in the Chinese capital. One of the North Koreans struggled briefly with a Chinese guard on the gate, but broke free and rushed in with the others.
Within minutes, dozens of armed green-uniformed Chinese guards converged on the compound. A group of Spanish diplomats came out of the embassy building, talked to some of the guards, and then went back in. A man who picked up the telephone at the embassy said no one was available for comment.
The incident presented a dilemma for the Chinese government, which is a close ally of North Korea but has been criticized by human rights and aid groups for refusing to grant refugee status to North Koreans fleeing famine and repression in the hardline communist state.
A half-hour after the group ran into the compound, more than three dozen security forces from various Chinese agencies were crowded outside the embassy, forming a cordon and shooing away bystanders while shouting "Sorry, sorry" in both Chinese and English.
People who helped the North Koreans distributed written statements from the asylum-seekers, including some individual statements and one group news release that said they wanted to go to South Korea.
The statement described them as six families and three individuals. It said they totaled 25 people, but reporters only saw about 20.
"We are now at the point of such desperation and live in such fear of persecution within North Korea that we have come to the decision to risk our lives for freedom rather than passively await our doom," the group statement said.
"Some of us carry poison on our person to commit suicide if the Chinese authorities should choose once again to send us back to North Korea," said the printed-out statement, written in English.
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