China says it will punish two South Korean activists who were detained along with 65 North Korean escapees earlier this week.

The two activists, members of an organization that supports North Korean asylum-seekers, were arrested in a raid in eastern Beijing amid a recent spate of cases of North Koreans breaking into diplomatic facilities in the Chinese capital to seek asylum to third countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in a news briefing Thursday that organizers of such "illegal immigration and breaking into diplomatic missions" would face the law's consequences.

Zhang added that China "would punish those organizers in accordance with Chinese laws and combat this illegal immigration."

She did not say why the activists were arrested or give an update on the status of the 65 North Koreans who were detained.

In June, a Japanese man arrested for helping would-be North Korean refugees was sentenced to eight months in prison on immigrant-smuggling charges.

Additionally, a South Korean photographer accused by China of attempting to smuggle North Koreans out of the country was released in March after 14 months in detention.