They took the chance to surprise guards

A brief statement released on behalf of the group said they had been forced to flee North Korea in desperation, and they threatened to commit suicide if China tried to send them back.

But China has said its initial examination has found the group, who say they want to go to South Korea, are not refugees.

Beijing regards North Koreans in China as economic migrants who must be sent home.

We appeal to you on our knees and with tears

Asylum seekers' statement

A foreign ministry spokeswoman said the Chinese Government was seeking to negotiate "a proper solution", to the incident.

The South Korean Government has reportedly stressed to the Chinese authorities that the asylum seekers should not be forcibly repatriated to the North.

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Beijing says the North Koreans appear to have chosen the Spanish embassy simply because its security is much more relaxed than many others in Beijing.

Tight security

The group, which includes 13 men and 12 women aged from about 14 to 52, was reportedly able to rush in through the embassy's front gate, despite the attempts of Chinese security guards to stop them.

Defection rates

2001 - 583 2000 - 312 1999 - 148

Source: NIS

Many of those in the group had fled to China before, but are being forcibly repatriated, where they say they suffered imprisonment and torture.

"We have come to the decision to risk our lives for freedom rather than passively await our doom," their statement said.

The embassy has now been completely sealed off by police and paramilitary troops.

Little is known about the North Koreans. The statement passed to reporters says they are ordinary farmers and workers.

The statement also claims they are carrying poison, and says they are willing to commit suicide if the Chinese government attempts to send them back to North Korea.

Refugees or economic migrants?

There are estimated to be up to 300,000 North Korean refugees living inside north-east China having fled their drought- and famine-ridden homeland.

Beijing largely turns a blind eye to them, but refuses to grant them refugee status or allow the UN High Commission for Refugees to set up camps.

Last June, a family of seven North Koreans took refuge in the Beijing offices of the United Nations refugee agency and demanded asylum. They were later allowed to go to South Korea via a third country.

However, that incident did not change Beijing's position that North Koreans in China are not refugees but economic migrants who must be sent home.

Correspondents say the current situation could pose problems for the Chinese Government which has close ties to North Korea.