North Korean asylum seekers continue to gain access to the South Korean Embassy compound in Beijing despite a security crackdown, threatening to irritate relations between China and Pyongyang.
About 40 North Koreans are living in the mission's buildings in Beijing, according to a South Korean government official, adding that Chinese officials have not tried to interfere with the steady trickle of asylum seekers. A South Korean Embassy representative in Beijing refused to comment.
To prevent the North Koreans rushing the gates of foreign missions, which is often done after alerting foreign media, Beijing has ringed many embassies with barbed wire and stationed additional security guards.
However, the North Koreans get into mission buildings by posing as Chinese citizens seeking tourist visas to South Korea. Once inside, they ask for asylum.
Beijing is bound by a treaty with Pyongyang to repatriate North Korean asylum seekers.
But with China increasingly concerned about how the rest of the world views its handling of the refugee issue, it has released about 100 North Koreans who have taken refuge at foreign missions or schools this year, allowing them to go to South Korea via a third country.
