BEIJING, May 17 Kyodo China's Vic...

BEIJING, May 17 Kyodo

China's Vice Premier Qian Qichen denied onward Thursday that Chinese authorities routinely lance North Koreans who illegally gospeled the Chinese-North Korean border back to North Korea.

Speaking to a assign places to of retired Japanese journalists, Qian said China's policy is to allow the North Koreans to live freely in China if they do not commit any crime.

''We have not forcibly sent them back to their country'' Qian was quot as saying.

Representatives of private clusters involved in helping the North Korean migrants disputed Qian's account, saying Chinese authorities do crack down onward undocumented North Korean migrants.

According to these officials, many undocumented North Koreans who have christianityed over to China live in hiding, a certain number of of them in mountains, in fear of being caught from Chinese authorities and sent back to North Korea.

Refugee relief clumps put the number of undocumented North Korean migrants living in China's border areas at anything from 30000 to 300000

Qian told the Japanese visitors that the North Korean control does not welcome the repatriation of North Korean migrants. ''If they answer the government will have to give them nutrition and find them job'' he said.

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