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Wednesday, December 31, 2003 |
(CNA)
10:32:54 PM 
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China Upholds Ruling on Korean Photographer. (Korea Times, Dec 23, 2003) By Seo Soo-min Staff Reporter A Chinese appeals court last week upheld a lower court’s ruling sentencing a South Korean journalist to two years in prison for helping North Korean refugees out of China, officials said on Tuesday. ``At a court session last Friday, a Chinese judge gave Seok Jae-hyun a two-year prison term and fine of 5,000 yuan (about 720,000 won), rejecting his appeal,’’ a Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry official said on Tuesday. Seok, 33, is a freelance photojournalist who did work for The New York Times. He was caught last January assisting in a failed attempt to smuggle North Korean refugees out of China by boat. ``We were hoping the Chinese government would listen... [Free North Korea!]
10:29:04 PM
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40 N. Korean Asylum Seekers in Thailand Hope to Land in S. Korea. SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- Forty North Koreans have sneaked into Thailand and are now seeking asylum in South Korea, a U.S.-based broadcaster said Friday. The 30 women and 10 men arrived in Thailand via China and Laos, hoping for a chance to defect to South Korea, said Radio Free Asia. They were put either under Thai government custody or protection by a religious group in Thailand, it said. Yonhap News Agency... [Free North Korea!]
10:28:04 PM
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Vietnam: Protest Trial of Dissident (HRW)
(New York, December 30, 2003) - The international community
should protest the trial of a Vietnamese dissident on spying
charges scheduled for December 31, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International said today.
In a joint statement, the two human rights organizations called
for Nguyen Vu Binh's immediate and unconditional release.
According to Vietnamese sources, Nguyen Vu Binh - a 35-year-old
journalist, writer and advocate of peaceful political reform -
will be tried on spying charges on December 31. The case against
him includes slandering the Vietnamese state for abuse of human
rights in written testimony to the U.S. Congress in July 2002.
2:05:38 PM
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CHINA ARRESTS HOUSE CHURCH LEADERS AND WRITER (ANS)
The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) urged prayers for a jailed Christian Internet writer Zhang Shengqi and other Christian contacts who were arrested amid a crackdown against house churches across China, ASSIST News Service (ANS) monitored Tuesday, Dec. 30
VOM, a leading Christian human rights watchdog, said "10 Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers raided the house" last month of the writer's seriously ill fiancé Ye Jifei in the province of Jilin on the North Korean border.
"She faced constant interrogation for more than 24 hours," after being taken into custody, VOM said.
1:58:37 PM
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© 2004 Radio Free China
Last Update: 4/4/2004; 9:06:11 AM
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