January 12-18
China
The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) jointly released an Interpretation Regarding Some Issues When Handling Criminal Attacks on Police (《关于办理袭警刑事案件适用法律若干问题的解释》). The document says that actions such as biting, slapping, or kicking an on-duty police officer should be treated as criminal, while struggling with or verbally scolding a police officer is a non-criminal act. The interpretation takes effect on January 18, 2025.
The SPC issued its second judicial interpretation of the Civil Code chapter on Marriage and Family (《最高人民法院关于适用＜中华人民共和国民法典＞婚姻家庭编的解释（二）》), along with four typical cases that address specific legal issues involving community property and protecting the interests of children in custody fights during divorce. The document takes effect on February 1, 2025.
The SPC established a Judge Disciplinary Committee (高人民法院法官惩戒委员会) and convened its inaugural plenary meeting. The committee is composed of officials from the Communist Party Central Political-Legal Committee, the National Supervision Committee, and the SPP as well as lawyers and scholars. The party called on the courts in 2016 to establish an internal system for disciplining judges, and most provincial-level high courts have already done so.
Hong Kong
Former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai appeared before a three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal in an attempt to overturn his 2022 fraud conviction, for which he is serving a five year, nine month prison term. A lower court found that Lai breached the terms of the lease for Apple Daily’s headquarters by using some of the leased space to house a separate consultancy firm. Lai’s attorneys told the appeals court that the lease terms did not require him to declare the operation of the consultancy firm.
Police searched the offices of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute and took into custody for questioning the institute’s chief executive officer, Robert Chung. Security Secretary Chris Tang said they were investigating whether Chung and the institute assisted its former deputy CEO, Chung Kim-wah, whom the police added to a wanted list in December. Chung Kim-wah emigrated to Britain in 2022, citing censorship. Robert Chung founded a public opinion institute at the University of Hong Kong in 1991 and took it independent in 2019. The institute’s polls are regarded as an authoritative barometer of public opinion about political and social issues but have been attacked by the People’s Daily.
The Public Housing Authority proposed imposing criminal penalties, including fines and prison sentences, on persons who “abuse” public housing units by subleasing them for profit or using them for commercial purposes without living there. Currently persons who do such things may lose their lease but do not suffer criminal penalty.
A former Hong Kong police official was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to fabricating statements in order to prematurely end investigations in seven criminal cases during 2019-202. The court said his actions undermined the public’s confidence in the police.
Undersecretary for Security Michael Cheuk led a task force to Thailand where it met with police and tourism officials in an effort to aid a dozen Hong Kong residents lured or coerced into working at telecom scam operations in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries. These operations and the plight of their trafficked laborers has received new attention since Thai authorities rescued a Chinese actor who was kidnapped in Thailand and taken to a telecom scam center across the border in Myanmar.
Japan
The Osaka District Court ordered the national government to pay 400,000 yen (about US$2,600) in compensation to a detainee who was held for months in a cell equipped with a surveillance camera at the Osaka detention center. The court said the extended monitoring violated the inmate’s right to privacy. He had been convicted of robbery and rape and sentenced to 22 years in prison. He was held at the detention center while appealing the verdict. The detention center considered him a suicide risk.
Police arrested the former chancellor of the Tokyo Women’s Medical University on suspicion of wrongly transferring about 120 million yen ($700,000) from university accounts. The transfers were presented as payments to an architect involved in construction of a university facility.
Koreas
With an estimated 44,000 supporters rallying outside, President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in a Seoul court Jan. 18 for a hearing on whether he should be formally arrested on charges stemming from his short-lived imposition of martial law in December. A massive team of law enforcement officials led by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials took Yoon from his barricaded residential compound on Jan. 15 to be questioned. Yoon has remained in custody since but reportedly is refusing to answer questions. Meanwhile, the National Assembly, voting on party lines, passed a bill authorizing a special counsel investigation into Yoon’s martial law declaration. The National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon on Dec. 14, temporarily stripping him of presidential powers and putting an acting president in place. The Constitutional Court began formal deliberations on Jan. 14 to decide whether to uphold Yoon’s impeachment or set it aside.
Police questioned senior leaders of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) who refused to allow investigators access to Yoon for weeks after his impeachment. When law enforcement first attempted to exercise a court detainment warrant against Yoon at his residence on Jan. 3, the PSS erected barricades, causing investigators to retreat after a five-hour standoff. Park Chong-jun, head of the PSS at that time, was questioned by police a second time this week. Park resigned on Jan. 10. His former deputy and now acting head of the PSS, Kim Seong-hoon, was detained on Jan. 17 when he reported to police in response to their summons. A third officer, Lee Kwang-woo, head of the agency's bodyguard division, reported for questioning on Jan. 18.
The Seoul municipal government held a public forum to solicit input for gather advice for regulatory and policy reforms this year. Ahead of the discussion, the city government collected regulatory reform ideas through a citizen suggestion platform, and reported that 111 proposals for deregulation and 86 new policy ideas were submitted. Most relate to daily life, such as child care subsidies and other family support programs.
Taiwan
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators formally petitioned the Constitutional Court to review amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) that were approved by the Legislative Yuan under the control of the Kuomintang or Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The amendments, which have not yet taken effect, require the Constitutional Court to have a quorum of at least ten justices and a super-majority of nine to declare a law unconstitutional. KMT and TPP legislators have refused to confirm President Lai Ching-te’s nominees to fill seven vacancies on the court, leaving it with just eight justices.
A high court in Kaohsiung upheld the death sentence for a man who confessed to murdering a Malaysian student. Liang Yu-chih (梁育誌) is the first person to receive a death sentence since the Constitutional Court ruled in September that the death penalty should be used only for the most serious crimes, requires unanimous agreement by a panel of judges, and should not be used for offenders with psycho-social disabilities.
A legislator from the Democratic Progressive Party invited officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Yuan, and legal scholars to address the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee on whether organizing protests against ongoing legal proceedings constitutes obstruction of justice. The briefing followed a protest organized by the Taiwan People's Party, with support from the Kuomintang, with the aim of highlighting perceived injustices in Taiwan's legal system.
The National Security Bureau reported that 64 Taiwanese were charged in 2024 with spying for China, up from 48 in 2023 and 10 in 2022. Of those charged in 2024, 28 were current members of the armed forces and 15 were retired military personnel. The report said that China infiltrates Taiwan through engagement with local gangs, illegal private money lenders, shell companies, religious groups, and nonprofit organizations.