Beijing ? Overrun by North Korean asylum-seekers, South Korea’s embassy in the Chinese capital is halting consular operations until it can clear out some of the would-be defectors, a South Korean diplomat said Monday.

The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the closure would take effect today. The decision means millions of Chinese — and some foreigners in China — seeking visas to South Korea are out of luck for now.

“The number of North Korean refugees who are staying within the inside of the consulate is beyond our capacity,” the diplomat told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “So it makes it difficult to do our consular jobs.”

Armed Chinese guards stopped unauthorized visitors Monday from entering the consular office, located in a walled, low-slung gray building in a tree-lined diplomatic area of eastern Beijing. The embassy proper is in a separate building nearby.

The diplomat wouldn’t say how long the office would be shut or how many North Korean asylum-seekers were inside.

But the South Korean news agency Yonhap said about 120 to 130 North Koreans were inside the embassy’s consular section, and that the facility can temporarily house up to 60 people.