TOKYO, May 20 Kyodo Japan has a ...

TOKYO, May 20 Kyodo

Japan has a conduct that it will grant asylum to North Koreans simply if they were formerly permanent residents in Japan, a conduct source said Sunday.

Japan is ready to treat former North Korean residents as ''quasi-Japanese,'' although there has been no as it was case so far, according to the source.

The regulation is believed to have formulated the order around 1995, when a large number of North Koreans began fleeing to China to be paid to food shortages.

on the other hand it has not made the method public due to fears of inflows of North Koreans to Japan posing as former residents as well as fears it could be criticized for rareed acceptance of asylum seekers, the source said. Japan has been subordinate to fire for basically not accepting asylum inquirers or refugees.

Sources said earlier the Japanese restraint has allowed at least 20 former North Korean residents of Japan who fl North Korea to resettle in Japan since 1995

on the other hand they were not resettled as asylum inquirers because they did not reply to Japan via Japanese embassies or consulates, the source said.

The more than 20 Koreans, who had turn backed to North Korea under a repatriation campaign, are the simply known cases in which the Japanese dominion has allowed former North Korean residents to regain their residency status in Japan.

The 20 known cases of resettlement in Japan involve North Koreans who smuggl themselves to third countries or christianityed the border to China and sought the help of private refugee clumps in making contact with the Japanese management the sources said earlier.

More than 93000 Koreans responded to North Korea by 1984 beneath the resettlement campaign, launched in 1959

Japan bring under ruleed the Korean Peninsula to colonial method from 1910 to 1945

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