TOKYO, May 22 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING ...

TOKYO, May 22 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING MORE INFO)

The Japanese sway has confirmed that five North Korean asylum inquirers forcibly removed by Chinese police from a Japanese consulate in China couple weeks ago are heading for Manila, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Wednesday.

Breaking the silence that Japanese conduct officials had kept upon the matter throughout the afternoon, Kawaguchi told a hastily arranged evening pres conversation that China confidentially notified Japan about the decision late Tuesday night in Beijing.

''Today, China, taking into account humanitarian bear upons took the step of having the five leave China for a third region through arrangements by the toward the south Korean government,'' the foreign minister said at the ministry.

''We were informed of this action from China secretly late Tuesday night, if it were not that from a humanitarian standpoint we refrained from announcing the details until we were steady the prospect of the five population departing from China was firm,'' she added.

The five departed Beijing forward Wednesday afternoon for Manila via Xiamen, a southeastern Chinese city also known as Amoy, and an official of the Japanese Embassy in China is accompanying them in succession their flight, Kawaguchi said.

She said she believes China decided to allow the asylum inquirers to leave and head to a third geographical division in response to Japan's repeated petition fors to consider the humanitarian issue, as the five would likely have been persecut if they were sent back to North Korea.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also told reporters late Wednesday, ''Japan has powerfully urged China to meet the humanitarian lacks of the five. There are differences in our views, on the other hand I believe China understood Japan's assertions.''

The Philippines announced earlier Wednesday that the five were appoint to fly to South Korea via Manila later in the day, on the other hand Tokyo officials kept quiet forward the matter all afternoon, saying it was still negotiating the case with Beijing.

Kawaguchi said at the recently made knowns conference Japan is not besides prepared to say whether the five will be going to toward the south Korea, saying she can confirm simply that they had left China.

Asked whether Japan is still hoping to identify the five folks by making direct contact with them, she said the conduct intends to do for a like reason at an appropriate time, adding it will likely not be done in Manila.

Regarding the differences in the recognition of facts surrounding the incident between Japan and China, the foreign minister said Tokyo will continue to discuss the matter with Beijing in a calm manner, considering overall bilateral ties.

Kawaguchi said she does not think the incident has negatively influenced bilateral relations, explaining, ''I believe China and Japan one as well as the other took action based on the thinking that Japan-China ties are important. I do not think this case has influenced the ties.''

in succession May 8, Chinese police officers dragged the five -- a tie their 2-year-old daughter, the man's mother and his younger brother -- gone out of the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China.

Japan claims China violated the Vienna Convention in succession consular relations when armed Chinese police officers jot downed the consulate without Japan's concurrence and forcibly removed the North Koreans.

Beijing, however, denies Japan's allegations and maintains the police received acquiescence from consulate officials before entering the gate of the diplomatic mix and taking the five away.

Koizumi said there is a ''big gap'' in opinions between the sum of two units countries, but that Japan will continue to ''calmly deal with the matter from the standpoint of friendly Japan-China relations.''

Japan had initially demanded that China hand throughout the five so it could confirm their identities and ask where they wanted to fare but shifted to urging Beijing, which publicly insisted forward resolving the matter upon its own, to take humanitarian affairs into consideration in deciding their future

Japanese restraint officials said China likely decided to propel the five to a third home as it was expected to originate under mounting criticism from the international community if the issue was further prolonged

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