North Korean weapons expert 'nabbed'

BEIJING - A North Korean biological weapons expert has been detained while trying to slip into the Australian consulate in China's southern city of Guangzhou to seek political asylum, according to an anti-Pyongyang activist.

Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor-turned-activist, said security agents had detained Ri Chae Woo, who planned to testify in the United States against Pyongyang's chemical and biological weapons programme.

Vollertsen, quoted on a human rights website, said Ri had evidence of human experiments.

A spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said the Government was unaware of the incident.



Ri worked for Chiha-ri Chemicals in Anbyon until June last year, when he and his family fled to China.



Activists say up to 300,000 North Korean refugees are hiding in northeast China. Defectors say refugees who are sent home face imprisonment, torture or death.

China has a pact with its neighbour to repatriate North Koreans, whom it views as economic migrants. But to avert Western criticism, China has allowed many asylum seekers to leave for South Korea via third countries.

- REUTERS