FM urges calm on DPRK entrants

BEIJING - Beijing urged Seoul to treat the issue of Democratic People's Republic of Korea nationals illegally crossing the border to China calmly in order to sustain Beijing-Seoul ties, instead of politicizing the issue.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks on Monday at a regular news conference when asked about an allegation from Republic of Korea media that the border crossers might suffer abuse if they were repatriated.

The reports from Seoul's media about illegal border-crossers from the DPRK showed its attempt to politicize the issue, which didn't reflect the truth or solve the problem, Hong told reporters.