DATE=03/14/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CHINA / NOKOR ASYLUM (S)

NUMBER=2-287530

BYLINE=JIM RANDLE

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: At least 20 North Korean asylum seekers are holed up in a foreign embassy in Beijing. They are threatening to kill themselves if they are sent home. Jim Randle reports.

TEXT: Witnesses say about two dozen North Koreans have sprinted into the Spanish embassy in Beijing Thursday demanding to be sent to South Korea.

Some members of the group have apparently tried to defect before and complained of harsh treatment when they were returned to North Korea last time.

The embassy is ringed by dozens of Chinese police, blocking off traffic and keeping reporters away from the immediate area.

A smaller group of North Koreans who burst into a U-N office in Beijing last year eventually were able to make their way into South Korea after a stand-off that lasted many days. (Signed)

NEB/HK/JR/RH