Four North Korean defectors seek U.S. asylum while in China

Four North Korean defectors have entered a U.S. consulate in China to ask for asylum, people close to the situation said Saturday.

The three men and one woman, who are in their 20s or 30s, climbed over the wall of the U.S. consulate from the neighboring South Korean consulate in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, they said.

On Friday, an official with the South Korean government said on customary condition of anonymity that "some" North Korean defectors are in the process of seeking asylum in the U.S.

The North Korean asylum-seekers are believed to have had a "minor physical clash" with a Chinese security guard of the South Korean consulate when they were scaling the wall, multiple sources said.

They had originally planned to seek asylum in South Korea, but changed their plan after they became aware of Washington's acceptance of six of their countrymen, who it awarded refugee status to early this month, the sources said.

The latest incident is expected to cause some degree of diplomatic embarrassment to South Korea, the U.S. and China, because it is the first case of North Korean defectors at a South Korean consulate fleeing to another country's diplomatic mission for help.

Beijing, May 20 (Yonhap News)