Park Sun-Young from the conservative opposition Liberty Forward party, fainted on the 11th day of her fasting while leading the rally of about 100 religious and other activists.

"We want China to immediately stop repatriation," they shouted as Park was carried to an ambulance, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The rally came as visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met his South Korean counterpart Kim Sung-Hwan for talks on North Korea and other issues.

The ministers had agreed to "cooperate closely for the smooth settlement of problems" related to their repatriation, Kim's office said in a statement.

Kim urged China to deal with the refugees in line with international rules, while Yang opposed the "politicisation and internationalisation" of the issue, Yonhap news agency said.

Kim "emphasized that China should respect international laws in dealing with the issue of North Korean defectors, based on a humanitarian perspective and the principle of no forced repatriation," an unnamed official was quoted as saying.

Yang said China regards North Korean escapees as economic migrants, not as refugees, but expressed hopes of resolving the issue through cooperation with Seoul, Yonhap said.

Park, 55, launched her fast on February 21, vowing to continue until death unless Beijing ends its policy of sending back North Korean escapees rather than treating them as refugees.

Braving sub-zero night temperatures, she had been living in a tent near the embassy. Her strike has sparked a fresh series of anti-Beijing protests and rallies.

Activists and Seoul lawmakers say about 30 North Koreans who recently fled to China will soon be sent back. They face harsh punishment or even death in their homeland, according to the activists.

Some have already been returned, according to local media reports.

Seoul has repeatedly urged Beijing to treat fugitives from the North as refugees and not to repatriate them. China says they are economic migrants and not refugees deserving protection.

The UN refugee agency and rights watchdog Amnesty International have also urged Beijing not to send the people back. Amnesty says returnees are sent to labour camps where they are subject to torture.

Since 1995 the world has donated more than 12 million tonnes of food to help the regime alleviate chronic hunger, according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service in June last year.

China, South Korea, the United States and Japan contributed more than 80 percent of the total, with Beijing the biggest single donor.

The United States has provided 2.26 million tonnes of food worth $708 million since 1995, the bulk of it through the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

Here are some of the significant dates in the food aid effort:

Early 1994

- North Korea launches first appeal for international food aid. Famine which begins in the mid-1990s kills hundreds of thousands.

1995

- WFP launches internationally funded aid effort which still continues.

2008

- South Korea's annual shipments to the North, of 400,000 tonnes of rice and 300,000 tonnes of fertiliser, are halted as relations worsen. Seoul's subsequent offers of smaller amounts of food aid are ignored.

- In May the US pledges 500,000 tonnes of rice to be distributed mainly through the WFP. Shipments stop the following year amid questions about the transparency of distribution and US aid experts are told to leave. Some 170,000 tonnes are delivered before the programme ends.

- In July the WFP says hunger in the North is at its worst since the 1990s famine, with five to six million people needing immediate help.

2011

- February/March: A WFP assessment, the most in-depth it has mounted in the North, indicates that more than six million people -- a quarter of the population -- will need food aid in 2011.

- March: South Korea's foreign minister says the North is stepping up international appeals for food aid because of its "dire economic situation".

- April: WFP launches an emergency operation to reach 3.5 million of the most vulnerable -- children, women and the elderly -- with strict monitoring of deliveries.

- July: The European Union says it will deliver 10 million euros in emergency aid to feed 650,000 people facing starvation.

- August: Russia says it is sending up to 50,000 tonnes of wheat to the North.

2012

- February 29: The United States and North Korea announce a deal under which Pyongyang will freeze uranium enrichment, along with nuclear and missile tests, in return for a large shipment of vegetable oil, pulses and ready-to-eat meals.

Washington says the 240,000 tonnes of food will go to young children and pregnant women, and that strict monitoring will prevent it being diverted to North Korea's armed forces.

The breakthrough comes after the youthful Kim Jong-Un took power in North Korea in December 2011, following the death of his father Kim Jong-Il.