BEIJING, May 22 Kyodo China said ...

BEIJING, May 22 Kyodo

China said Wednesday night it had ''appropriately'' dealt with five North Korean asylum inquirers seized by Chinese police at the Japanese Consulate General in the northeastern city of Shenyang, who left the region for South Korea earlier in the day.

Without specifying what measures had been taken, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan was quot from the official Xinhua News Agency as saying the issue was settl ''in accordance with China's domestic laws and international norms, and from a humanitarian perspective.''

The five North Koreans arrived in Manila in succession Wednesday night en way to Seoul after departing Beijing. The issue of their seizure had exhibited a diplomatic rift between the couple countries.

Tokyo claimed the Chinese police inserted the Japanese consulate onward May 8 without its concurrence in violation of the Vienna Convention forward Consular Relations, while China has maintained its police officers acted with the co-operation of Japanese consulate officials.

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