China has denied South Korean media reports that it has stationed Chinese troops in North Korea's Rajin-Seonbong region.

China's official Xinhua news agency on Monday reported that China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei officially denied a South Korean report that Beijing deployed Chinese troops in the region in order to protect China's port facilities.

China's state-run Global Times newspaper also quoted an unnamed Chinese defense ministry official as saying that China would not send any soldiers to another country without U.N. approval.