China asylum drama embroils Canada

A Chinese military police officer checks identification cards of a group of Chinese people in Beijing's embassy district

TOKYO, Japan -- Canada's consulate has become the latest to unwittingly host North Koreans seeking asylum by breaking into foreign missions in China.

Canadian embassy spokeswoman Jennifer May said two North Koreans entered the embassy grounds early on Saturday, but she declined for security reasons to say how they had managed to get past guards and the embassy's high wall.

"We have two, a man and a woman in their late 20s or 30s. They have asked for refuge as far as we can tell," May said, adding that nobody in the embassy spoke Korean.

Thirty North Koreans have now succeeded in entering foreign embassies and consulates in China in the last two months in a desperate attempt to escape their homeland and gain repatriation to another country.

The rash of defections via diplomatic missions in China has put Beijing in a tough position, forcing it to choose between an obligation to its impoverished communist ally to repatriate escapees or risk damaging its international image.

AUDIO Flurry of asylum-seeking continues in China. CNN's Jaime FlorCruz reports. 1.02MB / 1min. 37sec. WAV sound   GALLERY Police thwart the attempt for asylum     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

The weekend additions to the asylum-seeking list come as Japan plans to send a high ranking politician to Beijing on Monday to negotiate directly for the handover of five North Koreans seized from their consulate in Shenyang.

The decision to send Senior Vice Foreign Minister Seiken Sugiura rather than a bureaucrat was intended to underscore Tokyo's anger over the incident, Japanese newspapers quoted an unidentified senior foreign ministry official as saying.

"Although the decision is not 100 percent final, it is highly likely and we are moving in that direction," a foreign ministry official told Reuters news agency.

"It would not be to investigate but more to negotiate with Chinese officials, to repeat Japan's basic stance that they must be handed over and that efforts must be made to prevent a recurrence," he said.

Emergency meeting

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi called an emergency meeting on Saturday afternoon at which officials confirmed that no permission had been given for the Chinese police to enter the Shenyang consulate, despite Chinese statements saying they had Japan's 'consent' to do so.

Japanese diplomats arrived in China Saturday to investigate the seizing of the two women, two men and young child on Wednesday as they sought asylum in Japan's consulate in the city of Shenyang.

Tokyo has said it is concerned about the North Koreans' human rights and would support their removal to a third country, Reuters reports.

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.

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 asylum seekers from inside the compound was aired on Japanese television.

Japan accuses the Chinese authorities of violating international diplomatic conventions.

'Groundless' accusation

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.

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.