Earlier this week Chinese security officials removed four persons believed to be North Korean defectors – who likely will face imprisonment or execution if sent back to North Korea – from a South Korean government run school in Beijing, which South Korea protested. Aside from the fact that it was a ROK government facility, Robert notes:

North Korean defectors are legally citizens of the Republic of Korea and the Korean government has the duty to protect them (per articles 2 and 3 of the Korean Constitution), so the Ministry is well within its rights to demand that the four defectors in question be turned over.

However, China is not accusing South Korean diplomats of impeding Chinese security officials. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao stated:

“South Korean consular officials disregarded international law and their own status and obstructed the Chinese police from doing their job. . . China expresses its dissatisfaction at this. . . To protect the safety of the students and the school’s normal operations, the Chinese police sent officers to the scene. . . Related departments will deal with the issue properly and in accordance with the law.”

I’m far from an expert, but I believe that in general a facility run by a foreign government’s diplomatic or foreign service has a similar status as its embassy or consulates in that it’s considered that countries territory. In other words, the school may not have been the domain of Chinese police, at least without the express permission of the Korean diplomats, which they did not have.

This probably won’t go far in the Western press, but it should. This should be the spark that threatens the 2008 Olympics. Ironically, China is probably attempting to discourage defectors from making similar attempts during the Olympics.