Drug Execution in China

A sign at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport warns arriving travelers that drug trafficking is a capital offense in the Republic of China.
A sign at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport warns arriving travelers that drug trafficking is a capital offense in the Republic of China.

 

Two Korean citizens, sentenced to death for smuggling and selling substantial amounts of drugs in China, were executed on August 6. This was the first actual execution of Korean criminals in China for ten years.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, two Koreans, Kim and Baek, were sentenced to death by the Intermediate Court of Baishan, Jilin, for smuggling drugs from North Korea to sell in South Korea by way of China. They were executed the same day.

Kim smuggled 14.8 kg of methamphetamine from North Korea to China 14 times in total from 2010 to 2012, and sold 12.3 kg to Baek. Baek in turn sold it to criminal Korean organizations numerous times.

These two were arrested in Jilin Province in April 2011, and sentenced to death at the first trial held in the Intermediate Court in December 2012. At the second trial, the High Court of Jilin Province confirmed the first judgment in September last year, and the death sentence was finally approved by the Supreme Court through thorough its death sentence evaluation.

The Korean government has been appealing to “withdraw the death sentence, in humanitarian aspects, even though Korea respects the decision of the Chinese legal authorities,” through various channels. But China has stood firm in its response that “the Korean government’s position is understandable, but Korea cannot be the only exception as drug criminals, Chinese or non-Chinese, are punished with the same criteria.”

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution