JAPAN: Japan is to send a senior Foreign Vice-Minister to Beijing to try and resolve the increasingly bitter row over China's arrest of five North Korean asylum-seekers from a Japanese consulate in northeast China last week.
Japan accused China of violating international law by entering the consulate in Shenyang without consent and dragging five asylum-seekers out of the building.
Japan has dismissed Chinese claims that its diplomats had allowed police to enter the consulate to arrest the North Koreans, who had apparently rushed inside to seek asylum.
The incident is the latest in a string of cases where North Koreans have sought asylum in embassy and diplomatic missions in China.
Yesterday, two North Koreans entered the Canadian embassy in Beijing seeking asylum.
An embassy spokeswoman confirmed last night that a man and a woman in their late 20s have asked for refuge.
She confirmed that Canada was in talks with China to seek a solution.
The Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister, Mr Seiken Sugiura, is expected to travel to Beijing today to negotiate with China on the transfer of the North Koreans arrested in Shenyang - two men, two women and a child.
China on Saturday accused Japan of over-reacting to actions by its police, who were caught on video dragging the North Koreans from the consulate.
Relations between the two countries are already strained due to trade tensions and wartime recriminations.
A team of diplomats has been dispatched by the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, to investigate the incident. They are interviewing all 13 Japanese nationals and several Chinese staff at the consulate.
Japanese officials confirmed on Saturday that no permission had been given for the police to enter the consulate.