Mongolia says no plans for N.Korea refugee camps

BEIJING, Nov 23 (Reuters) Mongolia said today it would implement UN sanctions aimed at making North Korea give up its nuclear weapons, but denied it was preparing for a wave of refugees from the isolated communist nation.

An aid worker said on Monday North Korea may be slipping into famine, based on reports from refugees of food shortages and the suspension of international aid after the country's October. 9 nuclear test.

The comments add to a recent report that North Korea could be heading back to the starvation it faced during the 1990s, triggering a mass exodus of refugees.

''In some news there are rumours that Mongolia is preparing to receive refugees and setting up refugee camps, but this kind of news is groundless,'' Prime Minister Miyeegombiin Enkhbold told a briefing during a visit to the Chinese capital.

Mongolia has a ''third neighbour'' policy under which it seeks engagement with everyone to avoid offending anyone. It signed a friendship treaty with North Korea in 2002 but is also a darling of the United States for its democratic governance and support for the war in Iraq.

Mr Enkhbold said did not want to see nuclear proliferation and hoped to achieve a diplomatic resolution of the problem.

''Mongolia always supported a nuclear weapon free zone. In regard to the... UN resolution on North Korea nuclear issue, Mongolia is willing to implement that resolution,'' he said.

SAFE HAVEN Mongolia is seen by North Korean refugees as a stepping stone to South Korea and a safer haven than China, where tens of thousands of North Korean refugees live despite efforts by the Chinese government to keep them out.

''There are cases (of) some illegal entrants of people into Mongolian territory. Of course in that case we always treat from the humanitarian point of view,'' Prime Minister Enkhbold said, but declined to put a figure on how many refugees the country was hosting.

Around 500 North Koreans are already thought to trickle into Mongolia each month, mostly through China, Stephen Noerper, a Mongolia specialist and head of the Institute of International Education's Scholar Relief Fund, told Reuters recently.

Some North Koreans also arrive legally under an agreement between the two governments and work in light industry and infrastructure projects such as road construction, analysts say.

But Ulan Bator is nervous about upsetting its neighbour China on the issue of refugees, which may be one reason it is keen to avoid setting up camps.

REUTERS AKJ PM1257