4 North Koreans in Japan move step closer to leaving

TOKYO, June 6 (Reuters) Four North Koreans who arrived by boat at a Japanese port last weekend were moved to an immigration detention centre today in what media said took them a step closer to leaving for South Korea, their desired destination.

Japan has yet to decide the fate of the three men and one woman taken into custody in northern Japan on Saturday, believed to be a couple and their two adult sons, who landed in a small wooden boat after a sea journey that they said began on May 27.

A police spokesman in the northern prefecture of Aomori, where the four had been held while authorities questioned them, said they were being moved to a detention centre in Ushiku, just north of Tokyo.

Japanese officials, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have said their case will be treated sympathetically and that they might be sent to South Korea.

''We will respect their wishes and respond accordingly,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference.

Immigration officials declined to comment on how long it might take before the four left Japan.

''Every one of these situations is case by case and every case involves different circumstances,'' a spokeswoman said.

Foreign Minister Taro Aso said yesterday that Japan wants to first confirm that the four are genuine refugees before deciding their fate.

The four have been quoted in the media as telling police they were lucky to be able to eat bread every other day, but media have also said that they were wearing wristwatches, raising questions about how poor they actually were.

A North Korea watcher quoted by the Nikkei business daily said the watches suggested they might be middle class, while the elite wouldn't need to leave and the poor couldn't, and that this hinted at growing frustration among middle class North Koreans.

The four have told police that they had left Chongjin on the east coast of North Korea and headed south, but changed course due to heavy security and ended up at Fukaura in Japan's northern Aomori prefecture, 800 km (500 miles) to the east.

Japan can grant asylum seekers a six-month permit under its immigration law, and a 2006 ''North Korean human rights law'' also states the government must take measures to protect and support defectors from North Korea.

North Korean defectors have fled to Japanese missions and other premises in China in the past, and Tokyo has allowed them to leave for third countries.

But it is rare for North Koreans to flee to Japan, and relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang -- which have no diplomatic ties -- could worsen if North Korea demands their return.

REUTERS HK KP1022