The South Korean Consulate General in Shanghai said Monday it is looking into reports that the Chinese authorities have detained South Korean and Japanese members of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) for helping North Koreans flee their country.

An official at the consulate general said if South Koreans are confirmed to be detained, it will ask the Chinese government to allow South Korean officials to meet with them.

Japan's Kyodo News Service reported the same day that two Japanese NGO representatives and three South Koreans, including two photographers, had been arrested over alleged efforts to smuggle nine North Koreans into China.