Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Thursday countered claims by lawmakers that punishments over the handling of an asylum seeking incident in May at a Japanese consulate in China were lenient.

"I made the decision based on precedents of violation of the National Personnel Authority's national civil service law and the internal regulations of the Foreign Ministry," Kawaguchi told a House of Councilors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee session.

In the May 8 incident, Chinese police seized five North Koreans who sought refuge at the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China, while Japanese envoys looked on.