Vietnam detains four north koreans
HANOI - Vietnamese authorities detained
four North Koreans who crossed the Chinese border
into Vietnam and requested asylum in South Korea,
officials said Thursday.
Thousands of North Koreans fleeing famine and
repression have slipped across the border into China in
recent years, but this was the first reported case in
which North Koreans have tried to sneak into Vietnam
to seek asylum.
Two men, ages 35 and 45, and two women, ages 24
and 35, were detained Monday by border guards at the
Thang Tin border station in the northern province of Ha
Giang, a guard at the station said.
The four, who spoke no Vietnamese or Chinese, had
no passports or other identification papers, he said. The guard said the
asylum-seekers pointed to a map to indicate they were from North Korea and
wanted to be taken to the South Korean Embassy.
The four begged not to be sent back to China, he said.
Border guards turned them over to police in Hoang Su Phi district, 200 miles
northwest of Hanoi, where they were being detained.
An official from the provincial People's Committee, who identified himself only as
Trien, said they were awaiting instructions from the central government.
A spokesman for the North Korean Embassy in Hanoi said the embassy had
been informed of the detentions by Vietnamese authorities.
Vietnam's Foreign Ministry did not comment on the case.
Beijing is bound by treaty to send North Korean asylum-seekers home. However,
some North Koreans have been allowed to go to South Korea via third countries
after taking refuge at foreign embassies in China.
The Associated Press - January 02, 2003.
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