October 8-14
China
The Supreme People’s Court issued guidelines to improve the legal environment for private business. The guidelines emphasize the protection of private firms’ legal rights and interests including their reputational rights, and call for a crackdown on slandering or disparaging private firms and entrepreneurs. The guidelines also stress the need to expand financing channels for small and medium-sized private firms.
The Ministry of Justice said a network of people's mediation organizations covering both urban and rural areas has taken shape in China, including 3.18 million people's mediators nationwide, of whom 412,000 are full-time mediators. The ministry and the Supreme People’s Court also jointly issued a document, Opinion on Making Full Use of the Fundamental Role of People’s Mediation and Advancing Governance of the Sources of Litigation《关于充分发挥人民调解基础性作用 推进诉源治理的意见》.
Hong Kong
Four UN special rapporteurs expressed serious concern about Hong Kong’s enforcement of the 2020 National Security Law, including its mass prosecution of 47 pro-democracy figures and issuance of arrest warrants and bounties against persons now exiled abroad. The trial of the Hong Kong 47, in which only 16 are actually being tried because 31 pleaded guilty, began in February and is still underway. The defendants include former elected legislators, activists, social workers, academics, trade unionists, and journalists who organized and stood for election in unofficial primaries in July 2020. The UN experts said use of mass trials “may negatively affect safeguards that ensure due process and the right to fair trial.” It urged China to review the NSL to ensure it is in compliance with China’s international human rights obligations.
The High Court agreed to review the case of a Hong Kong teacher who was fired and stripped of all retirement benefits because of posts she made on Facebook during the 2019 protests. Toffee Tam Yuk-fun was attacked in 2019 by a pro-Beijing newspaper that accused her of fostering hatred towards police with online posts about officers and their families. She was later fired after an internal inquiry. Her lawyer argued in a written submission to the court that Tam’s online comments were made privately and dismissal was an unjustifiable intrusion into her freedom of expression and privacy. The High Court has yet to fix a date to hear full arguments.
Hong Kong police said scammers using phishing text messages have stolen HK$3.5 million (USD $446,835) in virtual assets from accounts on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. The text messages asked account holders to verify their identity through a link, which enabled the scammers to access information from the Binance accounts and transfer out the assets. Police urged users to use only licensed crypto trading platforms.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) arrested twenty people accused of taking bribes to help others make withdrawals from the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) with false documents. Persons paying into the pension fund normally can withdraw money after they turn 60 or if they permanently move away from Hong Kong. However, the MPF authorities have refused to accept withdrawal applications from persons holding British National (Overseas) passports - including many who have emigrated since the 2020 National Security Law took effect. The ICAC said an insurance agent masterminded a scheme to help BNO passport holders withdraw their money by providing false documents showing employment or residence in mainland China.
Japan
The Shizuoka Family Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to require a transgender person to undergo surgery to remove their reproductive organs in order to change their gender legally in the family registry. The court questioned the necessity and rationality of surgery, and noted growing social acceptance of sexual and gender diversity. The plaintiff was a 48-year-old trans man. A similar case pending before Japan’s Supreme Court could set a nationwide legal precedent.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government will seek to dissolve the Japan branch of the Unification Church, more than a year after the group’s extensive ties to conservative Japanese politicians were revealed in the wake of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination. Abe’s accused murderer held a grievance against Abe for his perceived ties to the church. The minister in charge of education, culture, sports, science and technology said his ministry will file a request with the Tokyo district court to abolish the church in Japan. The church meanwhile submitted a petition to the government signed by more than 80,000 people who protested the dissolution effort.
The Nara District Court held its first pretrial meeting with prosecutors and defense lawyers to prepare for the trial of the accused murderer of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The session was called to review evidence, narrow issues, and set the trial schedule. The defendant, Tetsuya Yamagami, 43, did not attend.
The central government and Kumamoto Prefecture appealed a court order to compensate 128 previously unrecognized victims of Minamata disease, a form of mercury poisoning. On Sept. 27, the Osaka District Court ordered the two governments and the chemical company Chisso, which caused the mercury pollution beginning in the 1950s, to pay ¥350 million ($2.3 million) in compensation. The plaintiffs were not eligible for relief payments under a special law enacted to support victims in 2009, but the court recognized them as Minamata disease victims. Similar lawsuits are underway in Tokyo, Niigata, and Kumamoto district courts with a total of more than 1,700 plaintiffs.
Koreas
South Korea protested to China over the suspected forced repatriation of a large number of North Koreans, whom rights groups say face imprisonment and abuse in their home country. The government said it was unable to determine the number of people involved and whether there were defectors among them. In Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said China handled the matter in accordance with humanitarian principles and domestic and international law. China has never recognized fleeing North Koreans as defectors, calling them economic migrants.
Local media report that out of 71 instances in which foreign envoys or their family members were accused of committing crimes in South Korea between 2019 and August 2023, 70 suspects escaped punishment due to diplomatic immunity. Only one suspect waived immunity. The alleged offenses included theft, traffic accidents, and driving under the influence. The information was contained in documents that Rep. Park Hong-keun of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea said he obtained from the Foreign Ministry. He urged the government to curb abuse of diplomatic privileges.
Police in Seoul said they arrested 26 persons - including including Malaysian, Chinese, and Korean nationals - on suspicion of smuggling 74 kilograms of methamphetamine into South Korea from Malaysia this year. It is the second-largest meth haul made by police to date. Police said they have recovered only a portion of the drugs.
Taiwan
The Constitutional Court said it will hear oral arguments in December on the constitutionality of Criminal Code provisions that criminalize making a public insult and insulting a public official. Thirty plaintiffs, including some prominent personalities, are challenging the first provision, and eight are challenging the second. In some cases, persons have been fined and even sentenced to up to a year in prison for calling others expletives or using words such as “slut” or “idiot.”
Taiwan lawmakers are drafting a law to regulate offshore cryptocurrency exchanges, and aim to submit the draft for legislative review by the end of November. Lawmakers held a public hearing at which they engaged with virtual asset service providers, legal experts, and scholars. Since July 2021, virtual asset service providers in Taiwan have been required to comply with anti-money laundering laws, but the absence of a specialized regulatory framework has limited regulators’ ability to take action against non-compliant companies.