Japan denies China's asylum claims

Police detain one of the North Koreans trying to enter the Japanese consulate in Shenyang

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan has angrily denied China's claims that its diplomats allowed Chinese police to forcibly evict five North Korean asylum seekers from the Japanese consulate in Shenyang.

Japan said Saturday there was no truth to the claims that a consular official had given consent for Chinese authorities to enter the consular grounds and seize the five North Koreans.

"We have investigated the incident, and Japan did not agree to the entrance of the police to the consulate and the removal of the five people," the Foreign Ministry said.

"We reiterate and strongly request that they be speedily handed over, and that China apologize and provide guarantees such an incident will not happen again," the statement read.

GALLERY Police thwarted their attempt for asylum

This latest round in the increasingly angry exchanges between the two Asian giants reflects the growing domestic pressure in Japan to get tough after video footage showing Chinese police seizing the five asylum seekers from inside the compound was aired on Japanese television.

Accusing the Chinese authorities of violating international diplomatic conventions, and using the video as evidence, Japan raised the pressure on China to hand over all five people.

China in turn claimed that its local police had received the Japanese deputy consul's consent to grab the first two North Koreans at the scene.

"Later a Japanese consul contacted the Chinese side on the matter, consented to it that the five persons be taken away by Chinese police and thanked the armed police officers for their efforts," the official Xinhua news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan as saying Saturday.

"It is groundless to accuse the Chinese side of entering without consent," Kong said.

A team of senior Japanese officials arrived in Shenyang Saturday, under instructions from Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to investigate the incident.

Who did what?

Initial reports had suggested that police had detained two people inside the compound but that two women and a child were taken at the entrance.

However the video showed the two women and child also made it inside the gate before being dragged out by Chinese police.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi demanded a "sincere response from the Chinese side".

Kong reiterated that China had acted to protect the consulate from "persons of unknown identity" in line with diplomatic conventions.

At the sitting of Japanese parliament's Lower House on Friday, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said she was worried about the North Koreans' human rights.

"China says the action was to ensure security, but this explanation is completely unacceptable," she said.

Japan's foreign ministry has already come under fire for its handling of the affair with the video sparking domestic criticism that some consulate employees apparently watched while the scuffle occurred.

"The deputy consul and the other officials must be taken to task," the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said in an editorial.

Asylum seekers on the rise

Japan's protest follows the latest in a series of cases where North Korean refugees have stormed diplomatic compounds in China in a bid for asylum outside the country.

Such cases have embarrassed China, which, under a treaty with Pyongyang, is obliged to return any North Koreans found illegally in the country.

In mid-March, a group of 25 North Koreans rushed into Spain's embassy in Beijing, eventually securing passage to South Korea.

The asylum bids have forced China to choose between its bilateral treaty obligations with North Korea to send escapees back or to risk damaging its international image.

Almost 2,000 North Korean escapees have settled in South Korea. Most have arrived via China in recent years.