North Korean asylum seekers storm Beijing embassy

A group of 20 North Koreans who said they were fleeing persecution in their hard-line communist country rushed past Chinese guards and sought asylum today at Beijing’s Spanish embassy, threatening suicide if they were sent back.

The men, women and youngsters ran through the embassy’s front gate, past two armed Chinese guards. One struggled briefly with a guard who grabbed him, but broke free and ran with the others into the main embassy building.