Two ethnic Koreans born in Japan who fled North Korea and an official of a Japanese nongovernmental organization were taken into custody by Chinese authorities in mid-December and are still being held, the NGO said Tuesday.

Hiroshi Kato, a senior official of Life Funds for North Korean Refugees, told a news conference in Tokyo that NGO official Takayuki Noguchi, 32, was helping a female refugee in her 40s and a male escapee in his 50s leave China for a third country when they were caught by Chinese authorities in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, Guangxi Province.

He said a female Chinese interpreter accompanying the three was also held.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a regular news conference Tuesday that the Chinese government notified the Japanese Consulate in Guangzhou of the incident on Dec. 15, and that consular officials met with Noguchi on Dec. 18.

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi meanwhile said the government is urging China to allow Noguchi to return to Japan after being questioned.

"We are asking the Chinese government not to deport the refugees to North Korea, although its domestic laws stipulate that (these people) should be deported," Kawaguchi told a separate news conference.

Later Tuesday, Chinese officials confirmed that Noguchi had been arrested on suspicion of engaging in people smuggling. Kato said consulate officials told the NGO that Noguchi was in good physical condition when they met him.

While members of Japanese NGOs supporting North Korean refugees have been taken into Chinese custody before, this is the first time someone has been detained for more than one month.

Kato was held on similar charges in October 2002 before being released within 10 days. NGO official Fumiaki Yamada was taken into custody in August and released after three weeks.

"We are afraid (the Chinese government) may impose a heavy punishment" on Noguchi, Kato said.

Relatives of the two Koreans in Japan asked the NGO for help early last month after one of the escapees called in late November to say they had fled North Korea and were hiding in Dalian, Liaoning Province.

Noguchi, a native of Saitama Prefecture, and the refugees had planned to escape to Vietnam and then either to Laos or Myanmar before returning to Japan, where they hoped to live, Kato said.

Kato said the group last heard from Kato on Dec. 10, when he made a routine phone call while the trio were near Guilin, Guangxi Province.

The woman was born in the Tokai region and the man was born in western Japan. The group did not release their names. The two Koreans went to North Korea in the 1960s as part of a government repatriation program.

The man was tortured by North Korean officials after being deported back when his first attempt to flee the country failed and now has difficulty walking, Kato said.