Chinese dissident Dong Guangping arrived in South Korea by rubber boat after crossing from China by sea, according to The New York Times. Two of his friends and his lawyer told the Times he reached the country late Monday.
According to a statement released Tuesday, coast guard authorities in Taean — a county along South Korea's western shoreline — took a Chinese national into custody after local fishermen noticed an unidentified rubber boat in the area late Monday. A coast guard official described the watercraft to The Times as a light gray, 11-foot rubber boat with a 9.9-horsepower motor attached. Officials said the name and birth year of the man in custody were consistent with Dong Guangping's, and that he was being investigated for an alleged breach of immigration law.
Sea escapes of this kind are vanishingly uncommon. The most recent precedent on record was the case of Kwon Pyong, who traveled from China to South Korea on a jet ski roughly three years ago, The Times noted. After being found guilty of unlawful entry, Kwon Pyong spent several months behind bars in South Korea; he subsequently left for the United States to apply for asylum the next year.
Dong Guangping's history with Chinese authorities spans decades. Authorities imprisoned him between 2001 and 2004 over allegations that he had worked to undermine state authority, and then held him again starting in 2014 after he took part in public memorials for victims of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, according to The Times. Each of his prior bids for freedom — through Thailand, Vietnam, and an attempted swim toward Taiwan — ended with his forcible return to the Chinese mainland, The Times reported.
About ten years ago, Canada approved resettlement for Dong and his relatives. Friends of the dissident told The Times they are now hoping he can finally make his way there to reunite with them.