The subhead says that allegations of running a secret “police station”—what the overseas CCP harassment and kidnapping centers are generally called—have been “Unprosecuted Due to Legal Limitations” (The Chosun Daily, December 17, 2025).
The name of the suspect is Wang Haijin (shown above). He has been sentenced to six months in prison, but for other charges, including customs violations and failure to maintain business registration. Also, the sentence has been suspended for two years, which seems to mean that if Wang doesn’t do anything that catches the attention of South Korean authorities over the next two years, he is off the hook.
The suspicion of a Chinese secret police station emerged in December 2022 when the international human rights group Safeguard Defenders announced, “Chinese public security agencies are operating 102 secret police stations in 53 countries to suppress dissidents who have fled abroad.” In South Korea, Dongfang Mingzhu was identified as a base for secret police activities, including monitoring individuals critical of the Chinese government and forcibly repatriating them.
Wang held an explanatory session on the “truth about the secret police station” at the time, denying the allegations entirely, stating, “There was absolutely no forced repatriation of individuals critical of the Chinese government, and we have neither the capability nor authority to do so.” Regarding suspicions that he sent some Chinese international students back to China, he claimed, “We supported Chinese nationals who were injured or died due to sudden emergencies, such as illness, to return home.” Regarding the presence of a photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping and propaganda books in a separate space at the restaurant, he explained, “Many acquaintances in Korea are interested in President Xi’s ideology, so we formally imported and gifted them through customs.”
However, since there are no legal provisions under South Korean law to investigate whether Dongfang Mingzhu was an actual domestic base for a Chinese secret police station, Wang was not indicted in relation to this.
That this guy admits to actively promoting CCP propaganda—just to be helpful to people interested in that sort of thing, mind you—is not a point in his favor.
Looks like South Korea needs to perform some emergency legislative work ASAP.
Also see:
Safeguard Defenders: “110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild”
“As these operations continue to develop and new mechanisms are set up, it is evident that countries governed by the standards set by universal human rights and the rule of law urgently need to investigate these practices to identify the (local) actors at work, mitigate the risks and effectively protect the growing number of those targeted.”
