Chinese Dissident Spent 30 Hours in Inflatable Dinghy to Escape to South Korea

Dong Guangping, a Chinese dissident, was discovered by fishermen off the coast of South Korea on Monday after more than 30 hours in an inflatable rubber boat. The Taean Coast Guard detained the 68-year-old man on charges of breaking immigration law, South Korean officials said.

Read more Police Respond to ‘Swatting’ Attempt at Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Home

Human rights advocacy groups like Human Rights in China and Amnesty International immediately jumped on the case, calling Guangping a “human rights defender” and arguing that he should not be sent back to China due to political persecution.

This is not the first time these organizations have advocated on behalf of Guangping.

Guangping was first arrested and imprisoned in the early 2000s for resisting Chinese censorship. He was arrested again in 2014 for his participation in a memorial event for the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

After years of political persecution, Guangping attempted to escape China with his wife and daughter in November 2015 but was detained at the border of Thailand. A March 2017 Amnesty International headline was the first public announcement of this sobering news: “Risk of unfair trial for forcibly returned activist,” the site said.

In November 2017, Amnesty International shared an update: “Forcibly returned activist at greater torture risk.” Guangping’s wife and daughter were able to move to Canada, but he was sentenced to 42 months in the Chinese prison system under charges of “crossing the border illegally” and “subverting state power.”

Read more Trump-Backed Texas AG Ken Paxton Beats John Cornyn in Senate Primary Runoff

Upon release, Guangping was forbidden to leave China. Nevertheless, he attempted to swim from the Chinese city of Shishi to the Taiwanese island of Kinmen but was picked up by Chinese fishermen. They brought him back to the mainland and turned him over to the police.

Guangping attempted to escape again in 2020 by fleeing to Vietnam and going into hiding there. Two years passed before he was discovered, deported back to the Henan province of China, and detained for almost a year. After his sentence ended, he was under strict surveillance but still managed to get an 11-foot inflatable boat and set out across the Yellow Sea last Saturday evening.

Human Rights in China released an official statement on Tuesday demanding Guangping’s protection from the South Korean government, but the outcome is still uncertain. The Korea Times and The Korea Herald report that the South Korean government’s refugee recognition rate is as low as 2.7 percent, and the country usually refuses to accept Chinese immigrants.

Guangping is said to be transferring soon from police custody to the immigration office’s foreign detention center for further investigation.

Read more DOJ Sues UC Regents over ‘Deliberate Indifference’ Toward Antisemitism at UCLA