US urges probe into PRC organ harvesting claims

The US pressed China on Friday for a probe into claims by the Falun Gong spiritual group that thousands of followers at Chinese camps have been killed and their organs harvested and sold.

"The Chinese have publicly denied the allegations. We've made the point that a further investigation would be helpful. We urge that it be done," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.

"Well, obviously, any such reports are taken very seriously by us. We haven't been able to confirm them. We have contacted the government of China about them," Ereli said.

Asked whether the US had suggested any international investigation, he said: "No, we've raised it with the Chinese and urged them to investigate."

The Falun Gong spiritual movement alleged that as many as 75 percent of its 6,000 followers held in a state-run camp in the Sujiatun district of the northern city of Shenyang had been cremated after they were killed and their organs harvested and sold.

In a statement on Friday, the movement, quoting "a veteran medical doctor who has served in the Shenyang military zone," said there were 36 such camps and that "the scope of the problem far exceeds that previously imagined."