January 14-20
China
The Supreme People’s Court issued a judicial interpretation to guide courts adjudicating disputes over the gifts (彩礼) traditionally paid by grooms’ families upon betrothal. The interpretation distinguishes betrothal gifts from other kinds of gifts, clarifies who has standing to sue in such disputes, and sets out principles for deciding when betrothal gifts should be returned. The interpretation takes effect on February 1, 2024.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) said it intervened to protect a whistleblower in Hebei Province who was arrested by local authorities on charges of slander and making false accusations. The whistleblower, retired government official Ma Shushan (马树山), had accused the Qianxi County party secretary and others of corruption. Ma’s arrest received widespread attention on social media.
The Ministry of Public Security released 2023 statistics about a national crackdown on gang crimes. It said that authorities solved more than 29,000 cases, detained more than 27,000 suspects, and cracked down more than 1,900 criminal organizations.
Hong Kong
The first prosecution witness to testify in the national security trial of former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai said that Lai instructed him to use the paper to encourage people to join the 2019 protests and draw the attention of Western democracies. Cheung Kim-hung, former CEO of Apple Daily’s parent company, Next Digital, has pleaded guilty to conspiring with Lai to commit collusion with foreign forces. Meanwhile, the court said the prosecution may call a law professor from the City University of Hong Kong, Wang Guiguo, to testify as an expert witness about US sanctions against China and Hong Kong.
A judge threw out a conspiracy charge against a student who said on social media that she was willing to kill supporters of the government’s anti-Covid controls. Chang Pui-sin was 16 years old in 2022 when she and four others were charged with conspiracy to wound with intent based on their posts in a Telegram group. The judge said the prosecution failed to prove she had entered into an agreement with others.
Chief Executive John Lee said Hong Kong’s own security law should be “forward looking” to address emerging risks to the city, including from technology. His government plans to submit a draft security law to the Legislative Council this year to address what it sees as gaps in the National Security Law imposed on the city in 2020 by China’s National People’s Congress.
The government-funded Hong Kong Arts Development Council said it will not support this year’s drama awards ceremony, and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said it will not provide a venue for the event. The ceremony is organized annually by the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies. Last year’s ceremony included a controversial political cartoonist, Wong Kei-kwan or Zunzi, and documentary journalist Bao Choy.
Japan
The government reportedly plans to ask the Diet to require social media platforms to delete potentially defamatory material more quickly and transparently. Proposed revisions to the Provider Liability Limitation Act would require platform operators to publicize guidelines about how to submit deletion requests and notify the applicants about whether their requests were approved within a certain period of time.
Prosecutors indicted a member of the House of Representatives for allegedly violating the election law by making up to 3.3 million yen ($22,227) in illegal payments on behalf of a candidate for mayor of a Tokyo ward. Mito Kakizawa and four secretaries were arrested in December. Yayoi Kimura, the candidate they backed and eventual election winner, also was indicted.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit over the eligibility of same-sex partners for public benefits. This means it may decide to review a 2022 high court decision that the same-sex partner of a murder victim could not receive survivor benefits from the government.
A court sentenced a man to death after convicting him of committing murder and arson when he was 19 years old. He is the first person to be sentenced to death for a crime committed at age 18 or 19 since the age of adulthood was lowered in 2022 from 20 to 18. The man, Endo Yuki, now 21, killed the parents of a girl on whom he had a crush and set their house on fire.
Koreas
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a constitutional amendment to declare that South Korea is his country’s "primary foe." In a speech to the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim said that all inter-Korean communication will be severed, a monument to reunification in Pyongyang will be destroyed, and South Koreans will no longer be referred to as fellow countrymen. State media said that three organizations dealing with unification and inter-Korean tourism will be shut down, Meanwhile, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced sanctions against two individuals, three entities, and 11 ships linked to North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Prosecutors indicted the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on charges of professional negligence for his bungled response to the 2022 Halloween crowd crash in Itaewon district, in which 159 people died. Several lower-ranking police and government officials have already been indicted.
South Korea’s new mug shot law is scheduled to take effect on January 25. The law allows law enforcement agencies to take mug shots of suspects in grave crimes without their consent.
The Seoul High Court upheld the conviction of the Seoul municipal education superintendent for abusing power to reinstate dismissed teachers. The court said Cho Hee-yeon acted in response to private favors. A lower court sentenced Cho to prison for 1.5 years with a two-year suspension; he now faces losing his job.
Taiwan
The Constitutional Court heard oral arguments in the case of a woman who sued the government for discrimination after being disqualified from becoming a firefighter due to height. According to the Civil Service Special Examination Regulations for General Police Officers (公務人員特種考試一般警察人員考試規則), non-indigenous female police and firefighter applicants must be at least 160 centimeters tall, compared with 155 centimeters for indigenous females. The petitioner’s lawyer argued that the height requirements have no rational basis.
The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, urged the government to recognize the reproductive rights of single women and lesbian couples by giving them access to donated sperm and eggs and surrogacy services. Currently, only heterosexual couples have access to sperm and egg donations. Surrogacy is not legal.