Fifteen people claiming to be North Koreans forced their way into Seoul's consulate in Beijing Thursday in an apparent bid for asylum.

Officials at the consulate say they were identifying the nationality of the would-be asylum-seekers, which include six children.

With the addition of the 15 asylum seekers, some 130 North Korea defectors are now on the waiting list at Seoul's Beijing mission, waiting to be allowed into South Korea.

Human rights activists say hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are hiding in China at great peril to their personal safety, hoping to eventually make their way to the South.

Beijing, an ideological ally of the North, does not recognize the escapees in its territory as refugees and is bound by a treaty with Pyongyang to repatriate North Koreans in its custody.