Ten people who claim they are North Korean refugees have sought refuge in a South Korean international school in Tsingdao, China.

A Tsingdao-based organization that assists North Korean defectors on Tuesday said two men and eight women entered the school at 3:40 p.m. while the front gate was congested with students going home.

Saying they fled from North Hamkyeong Province in the North, the ten went straight to the principal's office to ask to be sent to South Korea.