Japanese woman in DPRK asylum bid

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Japanese woman in DPRK asylum bid

A Japanese woman has applied for political asylum in the DPRK while visiting China in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.

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A Japanese woman has applied for political asylum in the DPRK while visiting China in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.

'According to sources related to the issue, the woman was travelling in Liaoning province, China, and jumped from a sightseeing cruise boat on the Yalu Jiang, the river that serves as the border between China and the DPRK. She swam to the DPRK.'

The bizarre incident comes as anger runs high in Japan over the kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s for the training of DPRK spies.

'A Japanese woman, Kazumi Kitagawa, illegally entered the DPRK recently while making a sightseeing tour of a third country and sought asylum,' said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in a dispatch monitored in Tokyo.

'She is now undergoing investigation,' it said.

KCNA did not say how the woman had entered the DPRK, but Japan's Jiji press agency said she swam across a river to reach the DPRK in August.

'According to sources, the woman was travelling in Liaoning province, China, and jumped from a sightseeing cruise boat on the Yalu Jiang, the river that serves as the border between China and the DPRK. She swam to the DPRK,' Jiji said.

The Kyodo News agency said the woman was in her 20s.

Source: Agencies

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