DATE=3-14-02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-287631

TITLE=NORTH KOREA ASYLUM (L)

BYLINE=JIM RANDLE

DATELINE=BEIJING

VOICED AT:

INTRO: At least 20 North Koreans rushed into a foreign embassy in Beijing Thursday and asked to be sent to South Korea. Some members of the group reportedly have threatened to take poison if they were sent back to North Korea. V-O-A's Jim Randle reports from Beijing.

TEXT: The group of asylum seekers pushed past startled Chinese guards onto the grounds of the Spanish Embassy in Beijing. A guard grabbed one person, who struggled briefly, but broke free.

Dozens more Chinese police quickly ringed the building, blocking off traffic and keeping reporters

at a distance.

/// NATURAL SOUND IN CHINESE, ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER///

A Tokyo-based human rights group said, the asylum seekers said some had escaped from North Korea before but were sent home by the Chinese and subjected to torture in North Korea.

Members of the group range in age from 10 to 52. A clerk, a farmer, a factory worker, a student, some miners and a dentist are among them.

A Spanish diplomat confirmed that the group had entered the Embassy, but said little more. It is not

clear why the group sought refuge in Spain's diplomatic compound.

The attempted defection poses an awkward diplomatic problem for China, which has good relations with both Koreas and has been trying to get reconciliation talks restarted between Seoul and Pyongyang. Beijing is also concerned that, if it permitted free passage for the asylum seekers to South Korea, other North Koreans may be encouraged to sneak across the border to China.

North Korea has been troubled by famine for several years after natural disasters and economic

mismanagement caused serious food shortages. Many North Koreans must rely on international aid donations to survive.

Last year, another, smaller group of North Koreans burst into a United Nations diplomatic office in Beijing and, after a lengthy standoff, was allowed to leave to South Korea. (Signed).

NEB/HK/JR/ MAR