hankyoreh

By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter

China executed two South Korean men for trafficking drugs from North Korea, on Aug. 6. The executions were of the first of South Koreans in China since 2004.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that two men surnamed Kim, 53, and Baek, 45, were executed by Chinese authorities after being sentenced by the Intermediate People’s Court in Baishan City, Jilin Province.

The first execution of a South Korean in a decade’s time by China means there is now more attention being paid to those South Koreans who are currently imprisoned in China on drug-related charges and have been sentenced to death. The Chinese government is sticking to its rigid zero-tolerance policy on drug crimes.

Kim and Baek were caught with a significant amount of a methamphetamine called philopon. Kim smuggled in 14.8kg, and of those 12.3kg was sold to Baek, believed to have a street value of 4.8 billion KRW (US$4.64 million). Jilin Province is known as a rampant drug trading area between China and North Korea as it directly faces North Korea with borders on the Yalu and Tumen rivers.

Under Chinese criminal law, which enforces harsher punishment depending on the amount of drugs, it was unlikely that Kim and Baek would have been able to avoid any heavy penalty.

According to Article 347 of Chinese criminal law:

“Persons who smuggle, traffic in, transport or manufacture opium of not less than 1,000 grams, heroin or methylaniline of not less than 50 grams or other narcotic drugs of large quantities;

Whoever smuggles, traffics in, transports or manufactures opium of not less than 200 grams but less than 1,000 grams, or heroin or methylaniline of not less than 10 grams but less than 50 grams or any other narcotic drugs of relatively large quantities shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than seven years and shall also be fined.

Whoever smuggles, traffics in, transports or manufactures opium of less than 200 grams, or heroin or methylaniline of less than 10 grams or any other narcotic drugs of small quantities shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance and shall also be fined.”

According to these standards, the amount of philopon that Kim and Baek were found trafficking was 300 times more than the condition for being sentenced to the death penalty.

Though the South Korean government claimed they did their best to stop the executions, their efforts were not enough to change the Chinese government’s stubborn position. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Noh Kwang-il said, “The government provided all consular support starting from when the two men were caught. After they were sentenced to death, the government also made requests at various levels to have the death penalty waived on humanitarian grounds”. But in recent years, China has consistently meted out severe punishment to drug offenders, regardless of their nationality.

Over the last 5 years, China has executed one British citizen in 2009, four Japanese in 2010, four Filipinos in 2011, one Filipino in 2013, and one each from Pakistan and Japan this year, a total of twelve executions and four different nationalities. This is probably why China responded by saying that it wasn’t possible to forego execution due to a particular nationality, when the South Korean government asked that the two men be spared.

Both the ruling party and opposition party made the same criticisms of the government‘s inadequate response, but showed subtle differences. The Saenuri Party (NFP) said through its spokesperson, “Despite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials’ diplomatic efforts throughout the case, more reasonable explanation is still needed to convince the general public”.

The New Politics Alliance for Democracy also commented through a spokesperson, saying, “Even Koreans who have committed crimes are still our citizens. Therefore, the current administration should be criticized for its ineptitude to protect its nationals and putting greater importance on diplomatic relations”.

It is understood that there are around 20 South Korean nationals in China who were sentenced to death at their first trial under a range of charges, including drug trafficking.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]