South Korea is sending an emergency commission to China to investigate lurid tales of the “Shanghai siren”, whose mysterious intrigues at South Korea’s consulate in Shanghai could damage Beijing-Seoul relations.
Photographs of a 33-year-old Chinese woman embracing several South Korean diplomats have been splashed across South Korean newspapers. While fears are subsiding that Deng Xinming is a spy who charmed state secrets out of besotted diplomats, rights groups worry the alleged sex scandal could undermine one of the most sensitive and secret parts of South Korean diplomacy: the smuggling of North Korean defectors through China into Seoul.
The South Korean foreign ministry declined to comment on the mission and its purpose beyond saying diplomats and judiciary officials would visit China from March 13 to 19.