By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent
A group of North Koreans defectors has been detained on the Chinese border with Laos in the latest crackdown by authorities who repatriate North Koreans found illegally in China.
But in a rare and encouraging sign of a Chinese policy change, Sky News understands that the group are being released rather than returned to North Korea.
The ten men and women, in their 20s and 30s, and one four-year-old child, were detained along the border between Laos and China's Yunnan Province.
Sky News has spoken to the organisation responsible for facilitating their escape from North Korea.
According to a source within the organisation, the group left North Korea's Ryanggang Province at the end of July.
They crossed the country's northern border with China and then used well-established smuggling routes to travel south for thousands of miles.
The defectors travelled thousands of miles through China They travelled first to Qingdao in China's Shandong Province before moving south to Kunming in Yunnan Province.
The group then boarded a minibus bound for the border with Laos. Chinese military detained them as they were trying to cross by foot on August 12.
News that this group's bid to escape had failed came only when some of them managed to send text messages to relatives who had already escaped to South Korea.
Hundreds of North Koreans escape every year searching for asylum and a better life in South Korea.
The only viable way out of their country is through China. The border between North and South Korea is closed and heavily fortified.
Their escape takes defectors across the northern border with China and then down to South-East Asia.
Hundreds of people escape from North Korea every year Their goal is the South Korean embassy in Vietnam, Laos or Thailand where they will be offered the chance to apply for asylum.
However, China has a close relationship with North Korea.
Under an agreement between the two countries, any North Koreans found to be in China illegally are automatically repatriated.
Because defection from North Korea is illegal, any escapees sent back face detention in a labour camp and possible execution.
In February, a United Nations report into North Korea's human rights record made specific mention of China's repatriation policy towards defectors.
The UN body called for China to change the policy, saying that "persons who are forcibly repatriated from China are commonly subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, summary execution and other forms of sexual violence".
Recent strains in the relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang have prompted hopes that China's North Korea policy would be relaxed.
However, indications suggest a growing number are being caught and forcibly returned to North Korea.
One activist told Sky News: "We were surprised with the tighter security. We are now not sure what to do.
"Before, the Chinese turned a blind eye to the defectors."
But Sky News has been told that South Korean and Chinese diplomats have been communicating both about the broad repatriation issue and also about this specific case.
A source said that the ten adults and one child are being released and handed to South Korean authorities.
A consular official at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing told Sky News: "We would do all we can do to help (the defectors) but details cannot be shared due to security issues."
:: Watch a special programme on the plight of North Korean defectors here.
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