Several people believed to be North Korean asylum seekers have entered a South Korean school in Dalian in northeast China.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency says the group of nine includes three children.
Hundreds of North Koreans have broken into diplomatic embassies and foreign schools in China in recent years seeking asylum. Human rights groups say the defectors are seeking refuge from the hunger and repression in their homeland.
China has an agreement with Pyongyang to send asylum seekers back home, but it has allowed many to travel to South Korea via a third country.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.