S. Korea closes embassy to North
From CNN Correspondent Lisa Rose Weaver
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BEIJING, China (CNN) -- South Korea has closed the consular section of its embassy in the Chinese capital to deal with a backlog of asylum seekers from North Korea.
More than 100 North Korean asylum seekers are camping inside its embassy in Beijing, a South Korean official told CNN on Monday, saying consular services had been suspended indefinitely.
"We have taken this extraordinary action because our consular officials cannot operate," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The rest of the South Korean embassy is operating as normal, while other people seeking assistance are being referred to the nation's other consulates in China.
The consular section will probably not reopen until the number of refugees drops to a "normal level" of about 50 people, the official added.
Since the beginning of last year, around 200 asylum seekers from North Korea have entered the Spanish, German, Japanese and U. S. embassies in China, citing abuse or political persecution at home.
While China has a treaty with Pyongyang requiring it to send back illegal escapees, once North Koreans get inside an embassy, Chinese officials in most cases have quietly allowed them to fly to third countries.
But no embassy has been besieged with the same regularity as South Korea's, as a growing stream of asylum seekers flee the impoverished Stalinist regime.
Officials at China's foreign ministry were not available for comment, as government offices were closed for a Chinese public holiday.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since they never signed a peace treaty following their 1950-53 conflict.
