Lee stated Kwon had traveled greater than 300 kilometers, or about 200 miles, on the private watercraft from China’s Shandong province to achieve South Korea, the place a few of his kin stay. Lee, who has recognized Kwon since 2019, stated he confirmed the person’s identification after being allowed a go to Tuesday to a coast guard facility the place Kwon was being held. A detailed relative in South Korea additionally confirmed that the person is Kwon, in line with Lee, who stated he had spoken to that relative.
Kwon is searching for political asylum outdoors China, ideally in the USA, Britain or Canada, Lee stated. “Kwon is in good well being and good spirits,” he stated. Kwon beforehand studied as a school scholar in Iowa, Lee stated.
The Korean coast guard stated in a information launch Sunday that a person on a 1,800-cc crimson water scooter — carrying greater than 200 liters, or greater than 50 gallons, of gasoline — had beached on Incheon’s wetlands and was detained for crossing the border illegally. It stated the particular person had visited Korea beforehand however didn’t disclose the person’s title and refused to remark additional, citing privateness considerations.
The coast guard’s particulars of how the person was discovered steered he had ready for the journey completely: He was carrying a life jacket and a helmet and carrying binoculars and a compass. He had dumped empty gasoline canisters into the ocean after refueling alongside the best way.
In 2017, Kwon was jailed for 18 months in China for “inciting subversion of state energy” after he posted speeches, photographs and movies on social media crucial of the Chinese language authorities. In a single picture, Kwon wore a white T-shirt that likened China’s high chief, Xi Jinping, to Hitler. A Chinese language courtroom stated Kwon had insulted the “state authority and the socialist system,” in line with Front Line Defenders, an advocacy group that has adopted his case.
Since being launched from jail, Kwon has been topic to an exit ban stopping him from departing China legally, Lee said. He tried to go away China and enter Korea by submitting a political asylum utility in 2019, however the course of was ultimately canceled due to the journey ban. Beneath Xi, China is increasingly using exit bans to maintain critics of the regime — residents and foreigners alike — within the nation, the place they are often extra simply surveilled and silenced.
The Chinese language Embassy in Seoul refused to remark, saying it has no related details about the case.
After coming back from Iowa, Kwon labored for a household enterprise in his hometown of Yanbian, a commerce hub on the China-North Korea border. On social media platforms that are actually banned in China, he posted criticism of the federal government’s censorship and political controls and help for dissidents and protests, his former attorneys said online and to the media in 2019. All of his Fb and Twitter posts have since been deleted.