Twenty-nine North Koreans Make Dash for Japanese School, Freedom in Beijing

Twenty-nine North Korean defectors dashed into the Japanese school in the Chaoyang district in Beijing, China on September 1 and asked to be sent to South Korea. They are currently under investigation after being transported to Japanese Embassy in China.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed the fact that 29 people who appear to be defectors from North Korea rushed into a Beijing Japanese school around 11:30 a.m., local time.

A member of a human rights group involved in the incident said, “We gathered North Korean defectors in Beijing from many parts of China starting in August, and we concluded that the best way for them to get to Korea was to get them into the Japanese school.”

Of the 29 people who made the dash for freedom, 11 were men, 15 were women, and three were children.

Sources say that the group includes the former warden of Prison No. 12, located in Hweryong, North Hahmkyung Province, a former militiaman who served during the Korean War, and some high-officials who were dismissed from their duty because of their family members’ escape from North Korea.

The human rights group member said that the group consisted of various people from those who just crossed the border a week before to those who had lived in China for five to six years. Three children among the group are said to have survived terrible living conditions, living in huts in the mountains of China over the past year.

These 29 people are known to be the largest group of people ever to seek asylum in a foreign legation or school for foreigners in China.

The area surrounding the Japanese school, which is near the Hotel Lido in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, was relatively calm after the incident except for the fact that more Chinese police were stationed around the area than usual.

Four North Korean defectors made it into Korea via Singapore in February 2003 under the protection of the Japanese Embassy after running into the Japanese school there.

Yoo-Seong Hwang yshwang@donga.com