**Nine North Koreans have entered Denmark’s embassy in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi to seek political asylum, reports say.**The North Koreans said in a statement they had fled their country “in search of food and freedom from oppression”, according to Reuters news agency.
They were reportedly accompanied by South Korean activists.
The Danish ambassador confirmed that North Koreans were at the embassy, without giving any further information.
Kim Sang-heon, a South Korean activists who helps North Korean to defect, said the group of North Korean defectors included six women and three men.
Other reports said that eight people were seeking asylum at the embassy.
The group’s statement - as carried by Reuters - said: “Some of us were caught by Chinese police and were then subjected to forced deportation to North Korea. After repatriation, some of us endured months of detention in North Korea that can only be described as atrocious.”
“We are now at the point of such desperation and live in such fear of persecution within North Korea that we have come to the decision to risk our lives for freedom rather than passively await our doom,” the statement added.
So far there have been no official comments on the issue from Vietnam or North Korea.