It's good to hear 5 N.Koreans' exodus to South: JCP Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on May 22 commented on the five North Korean asylum seekers' departure from China for South Korea via the Philippines. They had been seized by the Chinese police after attempting to rush to the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang in China.

Shii said that it is good to hear the news about their departure for South Korea, as the JCP has demanded humanitarian treatment for them.

However, further investigation is necessary to restore damaged international credibility in Japan's diplomacy, and a firm policy to deal with similar future incidents should be established, he stated.

At a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on the same day, JCP Kodama Kenji, using a Foreign Ministry-made chronology, pointed out that the Japanese consulate general and the Foreign Ministry did nothing in protest to the police for nearly one hour after the outbreak of the incident and they didn't even recognize that the event required lodging a protest. (end)