Three North Koreans who entered a US consulate in China last week seeking asylum are flying to South Korea from Singapore and will arrive later today, South Korean officials said.
The officials told said the three were aboard a Singapore Airlines flight scheduled to arrive at Inchon international airport near Seoul around 7.15 a.m. local time (3.15 p.m. irish time).
Two North Koreans entered the Canadian embassy in Beijing over the weekend and are still there, although progress is being made in their case, the embassy there said.
Five asylum seekers who entered the Japanese consulate in Shenyang were dragged away by Chinese police, provoking a row between Tokyo and Beijing.
So far this year, 162 North Koreans have defected to the South, compared with a record 583 last year. Thousands more refugees are camped out or hiding in northeastern China, many seeking food rather a new life in the South.
South Korea refers to North Korean escapees as defectors, reflecting the formal state of war that still exists between Seoul and Pyongyang. An armistice, not a full peace treaty, ended the 1950-53 Korean war.