Vietnam denied yesterday it was involved in the secret airlift of more than 460 North Korean refugees to South Korea in July.

The airlift angered North Korea which railed against its old rival, South Korea, calling the incident “premeditated abduction and terrorism” and later boycotting high-level talks.

Human rights workers say North Korean refugees often slip into China then travel overland to Southeast Asian countries, from where they hope to reach South Korea.

South Korea has refused to confirm where the refugees were airlifted from, referring to sensitive ties the Southeast Asian country has with North Korea, but diplomatic sources in Vietnam and human rights activists said it was Vietnam.

<B>Conspiring with South Korea</B>

On Tuesday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the North Korean ambassador to an unidentified Southeast Asian country that was involved in the defections had been recalled.

Asked about the issue, Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung issued a terse statement saying: “This information is completely baseless.”

North Korea has criticised Vietnam by name, accusing its fellow communist state of conspiring with South Korea and the United States in the airlift.

The North Korean embassy in Hanoi said the ambassador had left two weeks ago and was in North Korea on a business trip.

Vietnam tries to maintain cordial relations with both Koreas. South Korea is an important investor and Vietnam sells rice for food aid shipments to North Korea.

NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES

<B>Fleeing poverty and repression </B>

■ Asylum seekers from reclusive communist North Korea have broken into foreign embassies and consulates in China since 2002, hoping to secure passage to wealthier South Korea, but usually in smaller groups.

Four North Koreans last year entered a Japanese school in Beijing and eventually made their way to South Korea via Singapore.

North Korea last month appealed to refugees who have sought asylum in the South to return, avoiding for once labelling them "human scum", and saying a warm home awaits them.

North Korea’s Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland More than 100,000 North Korean refugees -- possibly twice that number -- are camped out or in hiding, mostly in China and increasingly in Southeast Asia, after fleeing poverty and repression in the North, activists say.