A Chinese dissident has been detained in South Korea after attempting to flee China in a rubber boat. Dong Guangping, 68, was taken into custody by the South Korean coastguard on Monday evening, having travelled more than 30 hours by sea from Weifang in Shandong province.
Dong has a history of escape attempts. In 2015, he fled with his wife and daughter to Thailand but was deported back to China despite receiving refugee status from the UN. He was jailed for over three years after his return. Following his release in 2019, he tried to swim to the Taiwanese island of Kinmen but was rescued by fishermen and sent back. In 2020, he fled to Vietnam but was arrested and repatriated.
Zang Xihong, a Chinese dissident in Canada, spoke to Dong on Tuesday while he was held by the coastguard in Taean. She said Dong was “almost unconscious” upon arrival. The coastguard confirmed a Chinese man in his 60s was arrested on suspicion of immigration violations, and an arrest warrant for illegal entry has been requested.
Dong was previously jailed from 2001 to 2004 for “inciting subversion of state power” and has faced repeated trouble due to activism related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Zhou Fengsuo, a former student leader from the protests, noted Dong’s sacrifices for the Tiananmen legacy.
Dong’s journey echoes that of Kwon Pyong, an ethnic Korean Chinese who fled to South Korea by jetski in 2023 and was charged with illegal entry. Dong is believed to hope to resettle in Canada, where his family lives. The Canadian embassy in Seoul declined to comment.
