June 22-28
China
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee approved long-debated revisions to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law (治安管理处罚法) that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. The law authorizes police to issue warnings and impose fines and detention for violations of law deemed to fall short of criminality, without any judicial process. Revisions include increased use of administrative detention for juveniles who commit frequent or serious offenses, a larger police role in response to incidents of school bullying, penalties for schools that fail to address bullying, and penalties for persons who sell or own dangerous animals. Individuals’ records of receiving punishment under the law will be sealed, including for adults. A controversial provision in an earlier draft that would have penalized wearing clothing or symbols that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people was scrapped from the final version.
The National People's Congress Standing Committee is seeking public comment until July 26, 2025, on ten draft laws addressing public health emergencies, maritime law, social assistance, healthcare, food safety, civil aviation, community governance, and legal education.
The Supreme People’s Court released ten typical cases in which drug crimes were punished harshly. The cases involve using minors to traffic drugs, smuggling new psychoactive substances, abusing medical authority to sell controlled narcotics, and exploiting vulnerable individuals to commit drug offenses.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced it has established a new investigation department to target judicial officers who “infringe on citizens’ rights” through unlawful detention, illegal searches and torture to extract confessions. The announcement amounted to a rare admission of abuses in the course of criminal investigations. Several recent cases of detainee abuse and deaths in custody have been reported in recent months and aroused public outrage.
The National Intellectual Property Administration and five other government departments launched a pilot program in six cities to improve intellectual property protection rules for new technologies, enhance coordination among government departments, and take other steps to enhance IP protection for businesses.
Hong Kong
Chief Executive John Lee said “soft resistance” to the government continues to threaten national security five years after imposition of the National Security Law. Lee said criticism of the local government is acceptable only if it does not aim to undermine security, and expressed support for plans by the secretary for culture, sports and tourism to increase scrutiny of arts and cultural activities to prevent covert dissent.
The secretary for environment similarly pledged to tighten the vetting process for environmental groups applying to the government Environment and Conservation Fund. He said that public resources must not be allocated to non-patriots who could endanger national security. Applicants must now pledge legal compliance, and authorities will review their past work to ensure that they are patriotic.
The League of Social Democrats (LSD), one of Hong Kong’s last active pro-democracy groups, reportedly is preparing to disband. The LSD was founded in 2006 and is known for grassroots activism. It has continued to hold small-scale public activities, including submitting petitions to government agencies, even as most non-government voices have been silenced.
A deputy High Court judge refused to allow a constitutional challenge of a law that criminalizes calls to boycott an election or cast invalid votes. Judge Frankie Yiu said the law is necessary to protect the electoral process. He said it is proportionate and rejected arguments that it unlawfully restricts free expression under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.
Japan
The government executed Takahiro Shiraishi, also known as the “Twitter Killer,” for the 2017 murders of nine persons, mostly young women, who were seeking assisted suicide. Shiraishi lured them to his apartment via social media, where he strangled and dismembered them.
A working group in the Internal Affairs Ministry urged social media service providers to voluntarily suspend monetization during national disasters in order to curb financial incentives for spreading disinformation. A draft report by the working group also urges businesses to label AI-generated images.
The Naha District Court convicted US Marine Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton of sexually assaulting a woman in Okinawa in 2024 and sentenced him to seven years in prison. The case intensified longstanding anger and safety concerns in Okinawa regarding the US troop presence.
Koreas
South Korean prosecutors grilled former President Yoon Suk-yeol for fifteen hours over his alleged actions to obstruct justice following an aborted attempt to impose martial law in December 2024. Yoon is accused of ordering the presidential security service to block execution of a warrant for his arrest and of ordering security forces to delete information from the phones of key military commanders. A special counsel team said they plan to resume questioning Yoon in the coming week.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry held a ceremony to mark the country’s entry into the Hague Adoption Convention (Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption), effective October 1, 2025. The government signed the convention in 2013, but delayed ratification for years while struggling to bring adoptions under central government authority, as required by the treaty. In March, the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the existing foreign adoption program, controlled by private agencies, violated the human rights of adoptees.
President Lee Jae Myung nominated former Supreme Court Justice Kim Sang-hwan to be chief of South Korea’s Constitutional Court. He also appointed Seoul High Court Presiding Judge Oh Young-joon to join the nine-member bench and and lawmaker Lim Kwang-hyun to be commissioner of the National Tax Service. The nominees face confirmation hearings in the legislature but do not need legislative approval.
A legislator disclosed Justice Ministry data showing that between 2020 and May 2025, South Korea detained 886 foreign minors in immigration centers along with their parents, including 13 children who were held for more than 100 days. Lawmaker Han Chang-min said detaining migrant children is a violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and called for reform.
South Korean police detained six Americans for allegedly trying to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, miniature Bibles, $1 bills and USB sticks toward North Korea by sea. The six were detained on Gwanghwa Island before they could toss the bottles into the sea. For years, activists have used bottles and balloons to send propaganda leaflets and USB thumb drives loaded with South Korean dramas and K-pop songs into North Korea.
Taiwan
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and Nationalist Party (KMT) jointly passed amendments to the Court Organization Act (法院組織法) that would conditionally permit the live broadcasting of court proceedings. Supporters said such broadcasts will boost public confidence in the judiciary.
The Legislative Yuan approved amendments to the Civil Service Protection Act that define workplace bullying in government agencies as harassment or abuse of power. The amendments establish significant penalties and strengthen complaint and enforcement procedures.
Defense Minister Wellington Koo clarified that photographing military jets taking off and landing is legal as long as people do not film sensitive areas inside bases. Speaking at a legislative hearing, Koo acknowledged the need for greater protection of sensitive military areas. A new Military Installation Safety Protection Act is expected to take effect on Aug. 1, 2025, and the head of the ministry’s legal department said the ministry plans to post signs at military and joint-use airfields to alert the public to restrictions.