The Japanese government secretly allowed a North Korean government official to re-enter Japan in 1999 after granting him asylum at a Japanese diplomatic establishment in China, informed sources said Sunday.

Tokyo considered the man to be "quasi-Japanese" as he was one of 95,000 former Korean residents of Japan who went to North Korea with their Japanese spouses between December 1959 and July 1984 under a program operated by the two countries' Red Cross societies, the sources said. The man has not been named.

The government's decision to grant the man asylum was apparently an effort to avoid friction with China, which has an agreement with Pyongyang to return North Koreans who seek asylum, the sources said.

More than 20 former residents have returned to Japan, but this is the first case in which the Japanese government was directly involved in the repatriation, they said.

According to the sources, the former Pyongyang official contacted a Japanese diplomatic establishment in China after leaving North Korea, saying he wanted to return to Japan. Tokyo decided to allow him to enter the country after confirming he was indeed a former resident of Japan.

The Japanese government apparently expected the man to provide information about North Korea, they added.

The Japanese government also hoped to avoid publicity surrounding the case, concerned that it would encourage similar asylum bids and harm relations with Pyongyang, the sources said.

Under the repatriation program, 93,340 Korean residents of Japan went to North Korea between 1959 and 1984, along with some 1,800 Japanese spouses. Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic relations.

According to experts on North Korea, many returnees from Japan have been persecuted since their return, making it likely that more will try to return to Japan.