A top Korean official paid a visit to an opposition lawmaker on a hunger strike against China's repatriation of North Korean defectors, a rare move that aroused speculation that Seoul is trying to show its commitment over the issue.
Senior presidential security secretary Chun Yung-woo said he met Rep. Park Sun-young of the conservative minor Liberty Forward Party in front of China's Embassy on his way to work on Sunday to ask the lawmaker to end the protest and leave the government to handle the matter.
Park has been on a hunger strike in front of the Chinese mission since last week to urge Beijing not to return dozens of defectors detained in China to their communist homeland where it is feared they could face harsh punishment and even execution.
"It is not that I went there on any instruction," Chun told Yonhap News Agency, cautioning against reading too much into what he said was an "unofficial" visit. "I told her that the government is doing everything it can and asked her to trust the government."
The defector issue has emerged as a possible thorn in relations between Seoul and Beijing, with South Korea taking an unusual tough stance on the latest case. In the past, Korea sought what is dubbed "quiet diplomacy" with China to settle such issues.
Last week, President Lee Myung-bak urged Beijing to follow international norms on the matter.
China is the only major ally of North Korea and provides diplomatic support and economic assistance to the impoverished nation. Beijing usually repatriates defectors from North Korea, seeing them as economic migrants, not refugees.
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