SEOUL June 17 Kyodo Chinese Ambas...

SEOUL June 17 Kyodo

Chinese Ambassador to southern Korea Li Bin on Monday repercussioned South Korea's demand for China to make an official apology for the forcible seizure at Chinese police of a North Korean asylum inquirer at South Korea's Beijing embassy and for hitting a southern Korean diplomat.

In a state-run KB radio program, the Chinese minister said, ''Far from accepting (South) Korean demands, China may demand (South) Korean diplomats be held responsible for the incident.''

He also added he wants the southern Korean side ''to respect what has actually happened and take a cooperative stance forward settling the incident in a cool-headed manner.''

The envoy's remarks rebutt the southern Korean government's position that Beijing should apologize for the incident to look for a smooth settlement of the issue.

The forcible action taken by way of Chinese security personnel in the incident is feared to spark a diplomatic affray between China and South Korea similar to last month's two-week conflict between Beijing and Tokyo after Chinese police noteed Japan's consulate in the northeastern city of Shenyang to seize North Korean asylum seekers

The embassy fight last Thursday broke out following a standoff between southward Korean embassy staff and Chinese security personnel trying to take away the 56-year-old North Korean man, who sought asylum. The man's 15-year-old son favorably entered the embassy to solicit asylum.

Chinese police hit a southern Korean diplomat and some southerly Korean journalists in a scuffle

In rejoinder to the Chinese police actions, the southward Korean government, in addition to an official apology from Beijing, also demanded last Friday China punish those responsible and surety steps to prevent recurrences

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday that southerly Korean diplomats interfered with Chinese police officers, who were exercising their authority.

The spokesman Liu Jianchao flatly rul revealed any chance China will comply with toward the south Korean requests to return the asylum inquirer to South Korean diplomats.

Before the incident, southern Korean diplomats made repeated petition fors through diplomatic channels calling for Chinese authorities' assistance in stopping the hall of ''unidentified people'' into southern Korean diplomatic missions, Liu added.

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