Chinese police offer US$23,000 reward for North Korean prison escapee
- 39-year-old convict went on the run on Monday night after climbing the facility’s walls
- The prisoner had less than two years of an 11-year sentence to serve when he fled, according to court documents
A reward of 100,000 yuan was offered for information leading to his capture.
The escapee, identified as Zhu Xianjian, 39, was a coal mine worker from North Hamgyong province who crossed illegally into Tumen county in Yanbian, a Chinese border city in 2013.
Once in China, he committed a string of crimes including stabbing a woman to steal 1,482 yuan in cash and bank deposit books, according to a court ruling.
He was sentenced to 11 years and three months in 2016, a term that was reduced in 2017 and again in 2020 for good behaviour and a show of remorse. When Zhu escaped, he had less than two years of jail term to serve, according to court documents.
In surveillance footage posted on Chinese social media by news agency China News Service, Zhu was working in the prison yard when he climbed onto the top of a shed on the edge of the prison, used what appeared to be a rope to damage the facility’s electric fencing, and then scaled the fence to flee.
Calls to officers Chen and Zhang, whose contact information were given in the reward notice, went unanswered.
The fugitive is 160cm (5.2ft) tall and was wearing a prison uniform when he escaped, the notice said.
According to court documents, Zhu admitted that he stole from several houses after swimming across the river from North Korea to a village in Tumen.
“An old granny came to the back of the house, discovered me and yelled. I took out a knife and stabbed her in the back,” Zhu was quoted as saying.
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North Korean inmate escapes from Chinese prison
He took the woman’s handbag, which contained cash and personal items such as bank deposit books and personal identification cards, the court document said.
The woman sustained wounds to her lungs and suffered haemorrhagic shock, which constituted grievous bodily harm, according to the document.
Zhu went to the train station and got in a taxi, which was stopped by police. Zhu still had the knife with him and was arrested, the document said.
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The prison break has riveted Chinese social media users, who speculated that Zhu managed to escape because the guards could not leave prison grounds to chase him.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese authorities have ordered a closed duty system where prison guards were required to stay within the compound for at least seven days, according to statements from prisons in Guizhou and Guangdong provinces.
