BEIJING (AFP) - More than 40 North Koreans were holed up inside the Canadian embassy in Beijing for a third day after Canada refused China's demand to hand them over.
The men, women and children who scaled an embassy fence using ladders on Wednesday could face a lengthy wait for an end to the stand-off as China goes into a week-long holiday, a mission spokesman said.
"Today is National Day, and we have entered into a period when many officials are away from their posts," said embassy spokesman Ian Burchett.
"We'll have to wait for this period to be finished, and then we'll go back at it."
Canada had earlier rejected China's request to hand over the group, who "will remain in the compound for the time being", according to foreign ministry spokeswoman Kimberly Phillips in Montreal.
Forty-four men, women and children -- all believed to be North Koreans -- scaled a three-meter (ten-foot) fence surrounding the Canadian embassy on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to secure political asylum.
One of the 44 was receiving hospital treatment outside the embassy compound for injuries suffered while trying to get over the fence, according to the embassy.
"That individual is still at the facility receiving medical care under the watchful eye of Canadian embassy staff," Burchett said.
For the 43 remaining in the embassy, life had entered into some sort of routine, he said.
A TV set had been rolled into the multi-purpose room where they were being accommodated and they had been provided with Korean-language books.
Embassy officials had also gone shopping to buy puzzles and crayons for the six children in the group.
Similar situations have occurred at the Canadian embassy here twice in the past two years, but each time only two North Koreans have gained access to the compound.
In recent years, scores of North Koreans have won political asylum in South Korea after they successfully entered diplomatic missions in China.
Earlier in September, 29 asylum seekers broke into the compound of Japan's embassy-run school and at least some of them have since been discreetly spirited out of the country.
Nine North Korean women were handed over to Chinese police this week after seeking asylum at the American school in Shanghai.
Joseph Caron, the Canadian ambassador in Beijing, told CTV television in an interview: "The fact of the matter is there have been many such cases here in Beijing and even other parts of China as well."
However, fueling concerns that Beijing might consider the current case differently, Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang on Thursday told reporters that China wanted Canada to hand over the 44.
Foreign observers were debating if this remark should be interpreted as a change of Chinese tactics on an issue that has become an increasing embarrassment in the relationship with North Korea.
"We'll have to wait and see," a foreign diplomat in Beijing said Friday. "China has always said that it doesn't consider North Koreans to be refugees at all."
Some governments fear harsh reprisals for North Korean asylum-seekers who are sent back to their impoverished country.