U.S. Expresses Reservation on China`s Infringement on Embassy

The Korean government declared that it was an unparalleled violation of the International law for the Chinese security officers and police officers to brake in to the Korean Consulate General, arrested North Korean defectors, and assaulted the Korean diplomats; and requested an official apology and reprehension to the Chinese government.

The Deputy Foreign-Trade Minister Kim, Hang-Kyung called for the Chinese Ambassador in Korea Lee, Bin and made clear on that issue and requested hand over the defector, Mr. Won.

The Deputy Minister Kim pointed out to the Ambassador Lee that this incident was “a very unfortunate”, and remonstrated, “it was a very serious violation of the inviolability of the consulates and the bodies of the diplomats under the Vienna Convention for the Chinese officials to break in to the consulates and to assault the diplomats.”

In reply to this, the Ambassador Lee said, “it was lawful to arrest the trespassers to the Korean Consulate General under the Chinese law and that incident was because the Korean diplomats deterred the official business.”

The Ambassador Lee also said, “the Chinese officials notified the Korean Consulate General yesterday to arrest the trespassers; however, the Korean diplomats deterred them.”

The Korean government sets a policy to bring not only Mr. Won but also other defectors who are under the protection of the Korean Consulate General to Korea while compromising this incident.

In the meantime, the Deputy Speaker of the U.S. Department of the State Phillip Ricker commented during the regular briefing, “we were quite worried about the report saying that the Chinese police officers broke in to the Korean Embassy in Beijing without the official request from Korea.”

He said, “our embassy in Beijing recognized the situation,” and “it was generally a problem to solve for the countries concerned; however, we cleared our opinion to the Chinese government that the defectors must not be transferred to North Korea where they could be prosecuted.”

Ki-Heung Han yshwang@donga.com eligius@donga.com