Kong said that it was "irrefutable" that Hiroshi Kato had committed criminal activities.

The Chinese judicial authorities detained Kato on October 30 as the mastermind behind the illegal entry of DPRK citizens in China and the Koreans' trespassing of foreign embassies in Beijing, Kong said.

Since June 2000, working in collaboration with criminal groups, Kato has organized the illegal entry into China of 12 DPRK citizens, with the aim of getting them to Japan or the Republic of Korea. He hatched a plot for the 12 illegal immigrants to storm into the Spanish Embassy in Beijing on March 14 this year.

"Kato has confessed to all the criminal charges, saying that he was in China again in an attempt to organize more intrusions into foreign embassies or consulates," Kong said.

The spokesman said Kato's activities seriously disturbed the order of China's entry and exit administration and public security, jeopardized the safety of foreign embassies and consulates and thus violated clauses 318 and 290 of China's Criminal Law.

With the "irrefutable" evidence against him, Kato should have been severely punished, Kong said. But the spokesman said that, because Kato showed a relatively good attitude during interrogation by confessing to his crimes, China dealt with him leniently and merely ordered him to leave the country before a set date.

However, once Kato had returned to Japan, he denied all the crimes he had committed in China and claimed to have been maltreated during interrogation. He accused China of failing to notify the Japanese Embassy in China of his case.

"Kato's accusations against the Chinese side are totally groundless, and China deeply regrets his behavior," Kong said.

(China Daily November 8, 2002)