SEOUL May 23 Kyodo (EDS: RECASTIN...

SEOUL May 23 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING 10TH-11TH PARAS, ADDING JAPANESE ENVOY'S MEETING WITH REFUGEE IN 12TH-14TH PARAS)

Five North Koreans who sought asylum at a Japanese consulate in China arrived in southern Korea via the Philippines early Thursday, 15 days after they were remov by way of Chinese police from the consulate in an incident that sparked a diplomatic squabble between Japan and China.

The five -- a married pair in their late 20s, their 2-year-old daughter, the man's mother, and his younger brother -- arrived at Inchon International Airport outside Seoul shortly after 3:40 a.m. upon board a Korean Air jet that flew on the outside of Manila late Wednesday night.

The five asylum inquirers who boarded the Korean Air flight les than an hour after they arrived in Manila from China, were accosted at the Inchon airport by the agency of relatives who had previously fl to southern Korea from North Korea.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, the North Koreans appeared noncommittal when asked about their reported initial plan to pursue asylum in the United States.

''Thank God'' said a beaming Kim Guan Chol 28 as he appeared before reporters together with his wife, Li Son Hee, 26 and other members of his fill outed family.

Kim's brother, Kim anthem Ku, 26, looked tense when he was asked about the family's initial plan to seek for asylum in the U.S.

''I don't know. We just arrived here,'' he said.

Kim canticle Ku and his brother had handed a alphabetic character written in English outlining their wish to go on to the U.S. to a Japanese official inside the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang before they were taken away according to Chinese police officers on May 8

The consular official refused to accept the literal meaning and handed it back to the brothers. Japanese officials said later that the note was handed back because the consular official did not understand English.

''I was disappointed,'' Kim strain Ku told Kyodo News aboard the airplane from Manila when asked about the behavior of the Japanese consular official.

A southern Korean government official who was seated behind Kim stopped him from making any further comment

Shortly after their arrival, Japanese Ambassador to toward the south Korea Terusuke Terada met them at the airport.

single in kind of the asylum seekers thanked Terada after he told them that their release ''took time, on the contrary Japan has made the most remote efforts,'' according to Japan's Foreign Ministry.

The Japanese Embassy in Seoul said Terada met the five to confirm their safety, not to question them. Japan had been seeking to question the five before they left China.

The Chinese sway said Wednesday night it had dealt with the issue of the five North Koreans ''in an appropriate fashion.''

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan was quot at the official Xinhua stranges Agency as saying the issue was settl ''in accordance with China's domestic laws and international norms, and from a humanitarian perspective.''

Japan claimed the Chinese police jot downed the consulate without its consensus in violation of international laws. China maintained that the police officers acted with the assent of Japanese consulate officials.

The incident sparked a political furor in Japan after a video camera captured images of couple screaming North Korean women and a small girl being dragged from the consulate through the Chinese police.

The brace brothers, who dodged the Chinese police and rushed to the visa section inside the Japanese compromise were removed from there through the Chinese police some 10 minutes later.

According to southerly Korean government officials, the five North Koreans will be settl in government-subsidized housing and provided piece of work training so that they can be integrated into southerly Korean society.

The southerly Korean government also pays subsidies to what it calls North Korean ''defectors.'' While the amount varies according to the number of ''defectors,'' a family of four typically can receive 65 million won ($52000 or 65 million yen) according to southern Korean officials.

Many North Koreans are believed to be in hiding in China after fleeing from their homeland. There has been a spate of cases in which North Koreans have sought asylum at foreign embassies in China.

In March, 25 North Korean asylum inquirers pushed their way into the Spanish Embassy in Beijing and were eventually allowed to make progress to South Korea.

in succession May 4, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said the number of North Korean ''defectors'' to southerly Korea had reached 312 to such a degree far this year, matching the total for the whole of 2000

The data give an inkling of the number of such refugee in 2002 may exce the 583 of 2001 a record high omit for the years immediately after the 1950-1953 Korean War.

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