A news website, Daily NK, reported that the authorities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) arrested more than 100 Chinese citizens on espionage charges in recent days. This piece of news was picked up by the Kookmin Ilbo newspaper, MBN and other Korean media outlets on Dec. 15, 2015.

It is the second time in three months that this type of hearsay has been disseminated. In September 2015, press reports maintained that more than 100 Chinese citizens were being held in the DPRK.

These reports are ridiculous and no such thing can happen, said a Korean source to the reporters with Global Times.

Lu Chao, researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told Global Times that the reports from the Daily NK are groundless, and that most of the staff working for this website are North Korean defectors. He added that the website has been providing inappropriately slanted coverage based on unreliable sources.

For the time being, more than 3,000 Chinese citizens work and live in the DPRK. Overseas Chinese have been abiding by local laws and working hard all these years, making positive contributions to the social and economic development and the construction of socialism in the DPRK, said a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in DPRK.

This spokesperson also added that the whole thing is completely erroneous, as there are only a few Chinese citizens who have ever broken laws or committed crimes in the DPRK, and there are no spies among them.