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South Korean photographer
Jae-Hyun Seok sentenced to two years in prison
23 May 2003
International Secretariat
Asia- Pacific Desk
Reporters Without Borders today protested against the
two-year prison sentenced passed by a Chinese court on
South Korean freelance photojournalist Jae-Hyun Seok
yesterday after it convicted him of ³trafficking in
human beings² for covering an attempt to help North
Korean refugees flee by boat from China to South Korea
and Japan.
The organisation called on foreign minister Li
Zhaoxing to obtain Seok¹s immediate and unconditional
release and the dropping of all the charges against
him, which it said were designed to prevent press
coverage of a matter of international importance.
Seok, who worked for the New York Times and the South
Korean magazine Geo, was tried by a court in Yantai
(in Shandong province, opposite the Korean peninsula),
where he has been detained for the past four months.
The court also sentenced him to a fine of 5,000 yuans
(625 dollars) and expulsion from China after serving
his prison sentence. He has ten days to appeal.
He was arrested on 18 January 2003 as he was covering
an attempt to help North Korean refugees reach South
Korea and Japan by boat. The Chinese police set the
refugees a trap by giving them to understand that they
would help them leave China. When they were about to
embark, the police intercepted them and took them to
special detention centres to await forced repatriation
to North Korea. Seok was arrested in the course of
this police operation.
Little is known about the conditions of his detention.
Since his arrest, only his lawyer and the South Korean
consul have been allowed to see him. Neither his wife,
other family members or his colleagues have been able
to see him since his arrest.
For the first two months, he was held in a detention
centre without being charged. He was finally charged
with trafficking in human beings on 4 March. The South
Korean government disputed the charge the same day and
demanded his release, without ever getting a response.
The Chinese authorities crack down hard on any foreign
attempts to help the thousands of North Koreans who
try flee their country by crossing the border into
China. The issue has become especially sensitive after
Beijing reached an agreement with Pyongyang whereby it
undertook to repatriate the North Koreans. Journalists
who try to cover the subject are usually detained
briefly for questioning and then sent home.
asia@rsf.org
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