January 21-27
China
The UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group examined the human rights record of China for the fourth time in Geneva. Relevant documents can be found here. Chinese Ambassador Chen Xu said his country has made significant achievements in improving human rights, while Western countries accused China of serious rights violations.
The National Press and Publication Administration removed from its website draft rules that would have imposed spending limits on online video game players, prohibited minors from tipping video game livestreamers, and barred companies from offering rewards for frequent logins. Investors dumped tens of billions of dollars in stock in Chinese gaming companies after the draft was released for public comment in December 2023.
The State Council Information Office published a white paper titled "China's Legal Framework and Measures for Counterterrorism." The paper sets out China’s definition of terrorism and existing laws and approaches, which it said comply with UN norms and principles.
Hong Kong
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung opened the legal year in Hong Kong by defending the city’s judges against charges of caving to government pressure in national security cases, and said threats of sanctions are “repugnant to the rule of law.” He said a narrow focus on the 2020 National Security Law has “distorted” perceptions of the city’s judicial independence, and stressed the need for courts to attract the best legal talent. Cheung is among 45 judges and prosecutors whom a group of US lawmakers want to target with sanctions.
The Court of Final Appeal restored attorney Chow Hang-tung’s conviction for encouraging participation in a 2021 vigil in memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests despite a police ban. At the time, Chow led the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriot Democratic Movement of China. She was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison, but in December 2022, the High Court overturned her conviction. The Court of Final Appeal now says the police ban was proportionate and legitimate.
A 51-year-old woman was given a suspended prison term of two months for re-posting an ex-politician’s call to boycott the 2023 district council election, from which pan-democracy candidates were excluded. Yeung, a clerk, shared a Facebook post by ousted District Councillor Leos Lee on December 3, 2023. She pleaded guilty to breaching the election laws. In 2021, Hong Kong criminalized calling for others to spoil or cast blank ballots in elections.
The president of the Law Society of Hong Kong said some lawyers may be sanctioned for their connections to a fund that provided money for legal representation and other aid to persons arrested during the 2019 protesters. The Law Society is the professional association for solicitors. Its president, Chan Chak-ming, said he received 16 complaints about lawyers related to the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which has been disbanded. One day earlier, the Hong Kong Bar Association said it investigated 38 barristers who provided legal assistance in cases backed by the protest fund, and none were found to have engaged in professional misconduct,
Four UN special rapporteurs urged the Hong Kong government to drop all criminal charges against former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai, who is currently being tried on charges of sedition and collusion with foreign forces. The experts said the case appeared to be directly related to his criticisms of the Chinese government and support for democracy.
Japan
The Kyoto District Court sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of murder and other crimes for carrying out a 2019 arson attack that killed 36 people in an animation studio. The judge said that the defendant, Shinji Aoba, was seeking revenge. NHK television reported that Aoba thought Kyoto Animation stole novels he submitted in a company contest. His defense lawyers said he was mentally unfit to be held responsible.
The Tokyo District Court ruled that it was illegal for the government to refuse to reissue a passport for freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda. Yasuda was held captive by an armed group for more than three years after entering Syria from Turkey for news coverage in 2015. After returning to Japan, he applied for a new passport in 2019 but the Foreign Ministry denied his application as a gesture to Turkey, which had banned Yasuda from entering for five years. The judge said the Foreign Ministry abused its discretionary power.
Koreas
North Korea’s Ministry of State Security issued orders to harshly punish persons who watch South Korean television broadcasts or acquire or distribute South Korean publications. The orders follow a recent speech by North Korea leader Kim Jong Un that called for a constitutional amendment to declare the South Korea as the “principal enemy.”
The Supreme Court finalized rulings in favor of victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor in three separate compensation suits against Nachi-Fujikoshi, a Japanese engineering firm. It ordered Nachi-Fujikoshi to compensate each victim between 80 million won ($59,880) and 100 million won ($74,860), amounting to a total of 2.1 billion won ($1,572, 073) plus interest for the delayed compensations. It rejected Japan’s position that all claims related to colonial rule were settled under a 1965 treaty.
The Seoul High Court ruled that a ban on rallies near the presidential office is unlawful. The People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy filed a suit after a police denied its request to hold a rally near the office in May 2020. At issue was whether the Assembly and Demonstration Act, which bans rallies within 100 meters of the presidential residence, applies to the office. In the past, the residence and office were located together but President Yoon Suk Yeol moved them in 2023.
The Seoul High Court upheld the Fair Trade Commission’s 224.93 billion won ($167.97 million) fine against Google for forcing Samsong and other smartphone makers to install the Android operating system on their handsets. The court agreed with the anti-trust body that Google had abused its dominant market power.
The South Korean Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of a ban on religious leaders using their pulpits to encourage worshipers to vote for or against particular candidates. Two pastors challenged the Public Official Election Act after they were fined for making campaign pitches. The court said the law ensures fairness in elections, given the considerable influence that religious leaders have over church members.
South Korea’s presidential office granted a one-year extension to the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which had sought more time to investigate human rights violations linked to past military governments. One ongoing investigation centers on the widespread falsification of records about children who were adopted by foreigners in the 1970s and 1980s.
Prosecutors questioned a top aid to former President Moon Jae-in about alleged manipulation of economic data in support of official policies. Former chief of staff for policy Kim Su-hyun is suspected of abuse of authority and violating the Statistics Act. The Board of Audit and Inspection has said that Moon's presidential office and the land ministry compelled agencies responsible for statistics to manipulate data on income, employment, and housing prices from 2017 to 2021.
Taiwan
The Health and Welfare Minister plans to hold at least two public hearings to discuss possible amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法), including legalizing assisted reproduction for same-sex couples and single women and legalizing surrogacy. But because of the complexity of issues related to surrogacy and divisions of opinion in society, Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said the ministry might postpone that issue for later action. Separately, the opposition China Nationalist Party of Kuomintang said it would propose amending the law to allow single women, unmarried couples, and lesbian couples to access assisted reproductive procedures. It also expressed support for government subsidies to women who want to freeze their eggs.
The Central Election Commission said that TikTok has taken down more than half of the 105 videos that the commission identified as suspected election-related misinformation. Under the election law, the government has the right to request a platform to take down any deepfake videos about a candidate.