Seven people believed to be North Koreans rushed into a Japanese school in Beijing seeking refuge, the Japanese foreign ministry said.
"There were seven defectors who rushed into the Japanese school in Beijing very early this morning before dawn," said foreign ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima.
"The possibility is that they are defectors from North Korea," he said.
The group, which included two men, four women and one child, were taken to the Japanese Embassy by bus after Japan notified the Chinese authorities, he said.
The presumed defectors are the latest group to rush the school after 29 North Koreans sought refuge there on September 1 after they cut through a chain-link fence and scaled the school wall.