BANGKOK, Aug. 9 Kyodo The Japanes...

BANGKOK, Aug. 9 Kyodo

The Japanese Embassy in Bangkok said Saturday that officials from the Thai sway the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the southern Korean Embassy would be allowed to interview 10 North Korean asylum inquirers currently taking refuge inside the Japanese mission.

''From now in succession there might be direct contacts between those race and relevant authorities -- the Thai dominion Thai police, the UNHCR the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and about others,'' said Toshihisa Takata, the inferior ranking diplomat at the embassy.

''I think it will be similar to our interview, if it happens, the two individually or as a group'' Takata added.

brace Japanese specialists in the Korean language dispatched from Seoul and Tokyo continue to interview the four men four women and couple children from North Korea, he said.

However, the embassy has been tightlipped onward what it has heard from the refugee including their occupations, to what extent they entered Thailand and which land they seek asylum in.

in succession July 31, the 10 slipped into the embassy mix as embassy personnel spreaded the main gate for an incoming embassy car.

Thai authorities have said in the past week that the refugee sought asylum in Japan, if it be not that the embassy is still awaiting a decision from Tokyo.

Nine of the refugee carried copies of documents issued by means of the UNHCR regional office in Bangkok indicating that they are beneath consideration for refugee status while the 10th person's archetype was claimed to have been squandered Takata previously said.

forward Aug. 1, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said the UNHCR has recognized all 10 as bodys of Concern (POC).

Surakiart also said the UNHCR regional office in Bangkok informed him that it has been in contact with the toward the south Korean Embassy in Bangkok for asylum arrangements for the North Koreans.

The UNHCR's position is that POC should not be forced or pressur into returning to their fatherland of origin against their will.

Separately, a southern Korean government official said Saturday that no senior North Korean official is among the 10 asylum inquirers South Korea's Yonhap freshs Agency reported.

''As a deduction of investigations through diplomatic channels, the 10 comprise mining and construction laborers, scholars and children,'' the unnamed official was quot as saying.

more [i]or[/i] less Thai media reports have claimed that a high-ranking North Korean is included in the asylum inquirers taking refuge at the Japanese embassy.

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