CHIANG RAI (Thailand), Aug 14: Thai police have arrested seven North Koreans, including two children, who slipped into Thailand after a long journey from their impoverished homeland, local police said on Tuesday.

One man, four women and two girls aged six and seven were detained in northern Chiang Rai province, 90 kilometres from the notorious Golden Triangle region where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet.

The migrants from the communist state failed to show ID cards when police stopped a bus for security checks, a police officer in Chiang Rai said, and the group was being questioned by authorities.

They told police they had fled North Korea and crossed China and Myanmar, before taking a boat on the Mekong river and entering Thailand through the Golden Triangle.—AFP