July 14-20
China
The Ministry of Science and Technology issued ethical guidelines for human genome editing research, including a ban on clinical research involving germline genome editing and on using edited germ cells, fertilized eggs, or human embryos for pregnancy and reproduction. The guidelines also call for the establishment of specialized ethics committees at research institutions to review and approve all genome editing research proposals. The move follows a 2018 incident of unauthorized gene editing in embryos by a researcher in Shenzhen.
The Supreme People's Court said that use of mediation and other alternative dispute resolution methods has slowed the rate of increase in the number of cases adjudicated by courts nationwide in the first half of 2024. The SPC said courts handled 23.2 million cases in the six-month period, an increase of nearly 4 percent year on year but 13 percentage points lower than the increase during the same period of 2023. The SPC also published five typical cases to provide guidelines for dealing with the problems reflected in the statistics.
Hong Kong
A Hong Kong-based reporter for the Wall Street Journal said she was fired by the newspaper soon after being elected chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), which advocates for press freedom and better working conditions for local and foreign journalists. Selina Cheng said her supervisors directed her to withdraw her candidacy and leave the HKJA board, which she had joined in 2021. State-backed media outlets in the city and in China have accused the HKJA of supporting the 2019 anti-government protests.
The government proposed to restrict certain legal posts in the Hong Kong government, including hundreds of jobs in the Department of Justice, to members of the local bar. This would end the city’s practice - begun in 1989 under British rule - of allowing lawyers admitted in other common law jurisdictions such as the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand to serve as government legal counsel. The government is expected to submit the proposal to the Legislative Council later this year.
A 20-year-old student was charged with unlawful assembly for allegedly participating in shopping mall singing protest in 2020, along with about one hundred other persons. Separately, police re-arrested five participants accused of involvement in violent clashes at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2019.
The judge presiding over mitigation hearings for democratic politicians who participated in an unofficial primary election in 2020 postponed the remaining hearings for a month. Justice Andrew Chan cited “unforeseen circumstances” without further explanation. Of the 47 persons originally accused in the case, fourteen were convicted in May of conspiracy to commit subversion, 31 pleaded guilty in hopes of getting lighter sentences, and two were acquitted. The court has been holding pre-sentencing mitigation hearings for the 45 in small groups.
Japan
Three months after a new rule requiring the use of honorifics (敬語) in Japanese prisons went into effect, some inmates and officers report improved relations between inmates and prison officers. Since April, prison officers must address inmates using “san” and “kun,” roughly equivalent to “Mr.” and “Ms.” The courtesy measure was proposed by a panel of experts after large-scale mistreatment of inmates by prison guards came to light in 2022.
A married transgender woman filed a lawsuit in Kyoto Family Court challenging the constitutionality of a rule that bars married transgender persons from legally changing their gender. The plaintiff is a trans woman who underwent gender reassignment surgery and began using a woman’s name, but remained married to her pre-transition wife. Unless she divorces her wife, she is unable to obtain legal documents that match her new gender and name.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with about 130 persons who were forcibly sterilized under Japan’s former Eugenics Protection Law and made a formal apology. About 25,000 persons were sterilized under the law, which was in force from 1948-1996. The Supreme Court recently ordered the government to pay 16.5 million yen (about $105,000) in damages to each of 11 plaintiffs who sued for compensation and 2.2 million yen ($14,000) to each of their spouses.
The Tokyo District Court ordered the national government to pay 1.1 million yen ($6,700) in compensation to a former lawyer who claimed emotional distress after being rudely interrogated by a prosecutor. The court said the interrogation violated social norms. Yamato Eguchi was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of persuading a man who caused a fatal accident while driving without a license to give false testimony. Prosecutors interrogated Eguchi for more than 56 hours over a 21-day period, after which he was charged and convicted. Although he expressed his intention to remain silent, the prosecution repeatedly made remarks such as: “You must have been thinking childishly,” “You're a brat,” “You're inherently prone to lying,” and, “It's not right that they've created this kind of lawyer.”
Koreas
South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that persons in same-sex relationships may register their partners as dependents in the national health insurance scheme, in the same way that married couples or couples in a common-law marriage do. The court said that denying national health insurance dependent coverage to same-sex couples “just because they are of the same sex” constitutes serious discrimination. South Korea has not legalized same-sex marriage and while support for same-sex marriage is rising, it remains a minority position. Support is high, however, for legalizing civil unions to benefit unmarried couples of all kinds.
The National Court Administration of South Korea opened a Court Interpretation Center at the Seoul Eastern District Court to provide internet-based interpretation services to courts nationwide. The center employs full-time interpreters hired by the court system and currently offers services in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Russian - the four languages in greatest demand. It also provides sign language interpretation.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly of South Korea moved forward with plans to hold a hearing on a public petition to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol. The president’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, was among those whom Democratic Party lawmakers sought to summon, but the presidential palace denied them entry to deliver the summons. The first lady is alleged to have improperly accepted the gift of a luxury handbag valued at 3 million won ($2,170).
Taiwan
The Constitutional Court temporarily suspended controversial legal revisions approved in May by the opposition-controlled legislature that empower lawmakers to call investigative hearings and compel testimony from government officials and private citizens. The Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Control Yuan, and the Democratic Progressive Party caucus of the legislature all filed petitions with the court challenging the constitutionality of the revisions. After a preliminary hearing, the court said that a revision making demands on the president appearing before the legislature is problematic because it shifts the boundaries between branches of government. The court will hear full arguments in August.
The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), which regulates science and technology under the Executive Yuan, released a draft Basic AI Law (人工智慧基本法) for public comment until September 13. The 18-article draft law is Taiwan’s first attempt at regulating AI use and mitigating the risks associated with it. The bill also addresses the protection of labor rights and personal data in the context of AI use.