news Scientists find genetic differences between northern Chinese, Korean and Japanese Stephen Chen binglin.chen@scmp.com Forensic scientists in Beijing say they analysed hundreds of samples to find genetic variations in three ethnic groups from East Asia. Photo: Shutterstock Researchers at China's top forensic academy in Beijing say they have found genetic differences between three ethnic groups in East Asia - northern Chinese, Korean and Japanese. These differences are coded in less than 50 variations across the sequence of the human genome, and the scientists said these genetic codes could be used by police to trace someone's origin as a way to help identify a body.