October 29-November 4
China
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) and All China Women’s Association jointly released six typical cases dealing with women’s land rights in rural areas. The cases address, among other issues, the land rights of a woman who married outside her birth village, a woman’s membership status in her village’s collective economic organization, and a woman’s right to compensation in land taking. According to the SPP, prosecutors have handled more than 4,000 cases involving women’s land rights from January 2022 to September 2023.
In its first confirmation of tax and land-use investigations of Foxconn Technology Group, the central government characterized the probes as “normal law-enforcement activities.” Foxconn is the world’s largest electronics maker and one of Apple’s largest suppliers. It remains unclear whether the investigations are related to Foxconn founder Terry Gou’s candidacy for president of Taiwan in elections scheduled for January 2024.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party, will be absent from December’s district council elections for the first time since its establishment in 1994. Party Chair Lo Kin-hei said he and other members could not secure nominations under the revised election rules. Smaller pro-democracy parties had the same problem.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced legislation urging that the White House impose sanctions on 49 Hong Kong justice officials and judges who have led enforcement of the National Security Law. The proposed Hong Kong Sanctions Act would give the White House six months to evaluate the 49 officials under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program and Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, and provide an explanation if sanctions are not imposed.
A district court gave two-year prison terms to four former members of the University of Hong Kong’s student union who pleaded guilty to inciting violence against the police. The student union had issued a statement in 2021 mourning a man who stabbed a policeman and then committed suicide. The statement was heavily criticized and the student union later withdrew it. Prosecutors initially charged the student leaders with advocating terrorism, but the charge was dropped.
A court sentenced a student to two months in prison for 13 “seditious” social media posts, mostly made while she was outside Hong Kong studying in Japan. Mika Yuen Ching-tine, 23, pleaded guilty last week. Defense counsel had argued for a non-custodial sentence, highlighting her lack of political affiliation or involvement in Hong Kong’s 2019 protests, her limited legal knowledge, and minimal threat to national security.
A Hong Kong court granted a conditional discharge to a US state politician who was found carrying a pistol in his luggage when he arrived in the city on October 21. Jeff Wilson, a senator in Washington State, said bringing the firearm was “an honest mistake.” The West Kowloon City Court released Wilson on a two-year bind-over order and told him not to repeat the offense.
The Immigration Department refused to extend the visa of a history professor known for writing and teaching about China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Rowena He Xiao-qing, an associate professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong who is currently in the US on sabbatical, said the university informed her that she was terminated immediately. Professor He was born in China and later emigrated to Canada.
Japan
The Tokyo High Court ruled that the North Korean government violated the human rights of four plaintiffs who were lured to leave Japan decades ago and resettle in North Korea. The plaintiffs originally sued in Tokyo District Court for financial compensation. They appealed after the district court determined that the statute of limitations had expired and that Japanese courts do not have jurisdiction because the plaintiffs’ suffering took place outside Japan. The high court had no trouble finding jurisdiction. The case now returns to the district court to decide on damages.
The Tokyo High Court declined to give long-term resident status, which allows residency for up to five years, to the American same-sex partner of a Japanese citizen. However, the court acknowledged that not granting residency status to same-sex couples could be a problem under the Constitution’s Article 14, which guarantees equality under the law.
Prosecutors demanded two-year sentences for three former members of the Ground Self-defense Force accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague at a training facility. The high-profile case at the Fukushima District Court exposed an abuse culture within the armed forces. The victim, Rina Gonoi, reported the assault internally but no action was taken until she left the military and brought her charges to social media. The court is expected to deliver its verdict on December 12.
Koreas
South Korea’s Supreme Court acquitted the former chief of the Coast Guard and nine other current and former senior officers of involuntary manslaughter due to professional negligence in the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry. The prosecution had accused the defendants of botching a rescue operation, resulting in 304 deaths. The defendants were exonerated by trial courts in 2021 and again in early 2023. Victims’ families expressed outrage.
Prosecutors in South Korea have brought new criminal charges against former lawmaker Kwark Sang-do of the People Power Party in connection with a property development scandal. Kwark has already been charged, tried, and acquitted of taking 5.6 million won ($3.9 million) in bribes from Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management. The new charges allege that Kwark took 2.5 billion won from Hwacheon Daeyu on the pretext that it was a bonus for his son, who worked for the company.
An appellate court confirmed a suspended four-month prison sentence for an opposition lawmaker convicted of election law violations. If the sentence is confirmed by the Supreme Court, Representative Lim Jong-seong of the Democratic Party of Korea could be removed from the National Assembly.
Taiwan
Taipei prosecutors said they are investigating whether cash payments have been offered in exchange for signatures in support of the independent presidential campaign of Foxconn Technology Group founder Terry Gou (郭台銘). November 2 was the deadline for Gou to submit 289,667 signatures in support of his candidacy, equivalent to 5% of eligible voters in the 2020 presidential election.
The Cabinet approved draft legislation that would allow five types of public servants - judicial officials, accountants, customs officers, police, and medical personnel - to form “special associations” similar to unions. The draft must be approved by the legislature.