A Chinese critic of his country’s ruling Communist Party had already escaped to Thailand and Vietnam and tried swimming to Taiwan — only to be sent back to mainland China each time. He was jailed, prohibited from working and barred from leaving, despite international calls to let him seek asylum elsewhere.
Now the dissident, Dong Guangping, 68, is in custody in South Korea after escaping China by sea, two of his friends and his lawyer told The New York Times. They said he arrived in a rubber boat late Monday.
Such journeys are extremely rare. In the last known case, a Chinese dissident, Kwon Pyong, traveled to South Korea from China on a jet ski three years ago.
Coast Guard officials in Taean, a coastal county in western South Korea, said in a statement on Tuesday that they had detained a Chinese national who was spotted in an unidentified rubber boat by fishermen late Monday. A Coast Guard official said by phone that Mr. Dong’s last name and birth year matched those of the man in custody.
The man was found in an 11-foot-long, light gray rubber boat attached to a 9.9-horsepower motor, the official said, adding that the authorities were investigating him on suspicion of violating immigration laws.
Mr. Dong’s arrival in South Korea has not been previously reported.
His friends said they hope he will be able to join his family in Canada, a decade after that country granted him and his family permission to resettle. They see the case of the other activist, Mr. Kwon, as a potentially good sign. Mr. Kwon was convicted of unlawful entry and spent months in a South Korean jail but flew to the United States the following year to seek asylum.
