China said Tuesday it has detained a Japanese citizen for helping two illegal Korean immigrants to flee the Chinese border unlawfully.

Takayuki Noguchi, male, arrived in the northeastern Chinese port of Dalian on December 6 and "collaborated with several other people there to transport two aliens who had illegally entered China,"said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan Tuesday in a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Kong said the three people were detained by local police when they tried to leave China secretly from the southwestern Chinese city of Nanning, near China's border with Vietnam.

Takayuki Noguchi's act violated China's Criminal Law which bans illegal transportation of people out of its border, the spokesman said, adding that the police had informed the Japanese Embassy in China on the latest developments.

"The case is under investigation right now," Kong said.

In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said the three were detained on December 10. He said Tokyo has asked China to allow the Japanese detainee to return home, according to an Associated Press report.Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Tokyo is urging Chinese government not to send home the two North Koreans, the Kyodo News agency reported.

Six-party nuclear talks

Hoping to arrange a second round of six-party talks as soon as possible, China is in close contact with the five other sides involved with the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Kong said.

China's special envoy for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear issue, Ning Fukui, and the ministry's head of Department of Asian Affairs, Fu Ying, were expected to meet US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly later Tuesday in Washington, according to the spokesman.

He told reporters that China would offer DPRK aid within its capacity, but rebuffed a report that it is meant to encourage Pyongyang to participate in a new round of six-nation talks on its nuclear programme.

Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, had discussed aid to the DPRK during a visit to Pyongyang in late October, Kong said.

He said the relevant authorities between the two sides are discussing specific programmes of economic assistance.

Other countries in the talks are the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Russia.

Russian FM in China

During a two-day visit starting from today, Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing to review the development of bilateral relations as well to arrange high-level exchanges in the future, he said.

Along with his counterparts from the other Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) members, Ivanov will also appear at the inaugural ceremony of the launch of the SCO secretariat on January 15 in Beijing.

The spokesman said that Zhang Huazhu, chairman of China Atomic Energy Authority, and visiting US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham had signed a statement of intent on the co-operation of peaceful utilization of nuclear power, non-proliferation and anti-terrorism.

Three Koreas deported for Falun Gong activities

In another development, three citizens of the Republic of Korea (ROK) were deported yesterday for their illegal activities of the banned Falun Gong cult, sources with the Chinese judicial authorities said.

Nam Sang-sik, 49, Pak Chang-kuk, 48, and Ahn Suk-chul, 53, were detained according to Chinese law on January 10 and 11 respectively and deported yesterday reported Xinhua.

A judicial investigation showed that Nam and Pak, after their entry into China, had instigated Falun Gong followers in China to sabotage local radio, television broadcast and telecommunications facilities and had plotted sabotage activities during the upcoming Spring Festival.

The three ROK nationals confessed to their illegal activities in China during the detention and judicial investigation, and were admonished by the Chinese judicial authorities, according to law before the deportation, sources said.

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