South Korea investigates secret Chinese ‘police stations’ after claims of 2 more being uncovered on Jeju Island
- China’s embassy in Seoul has slammed the allegations that three ‘so-called secret police stations’ were set up in South Korea
- One analyst said Seoul was fed up with ‘letting Chinese agents operate without restraints’. Such facilities have been uncovered in other countries
South Korean authorities are reportedly looking into alleged Chinese “secret police stations” in the country, as analysts say Seoul has apparently had enough of sovereignty transgressions by Chinese agents.
A spokesman at the Chinese embassy in Seoul slammed the allegations as “totally groundless”.
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China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wengbin said last month that there were “no so-called overseas police stations” and that such accusations were “disinformation … smearing and discrediting China”.
There was no immediate comment from South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency on the reports.
After opening in 2017, the restaurant in Seoul remained unprofitable before it shut early this year to carry out renovations.
Owner Wang Haijun, 44, in December denied reports that his restaurant served as a “secret police station” for China.
He also rejected allegations he was involved in secret police activities, such as suppressing Chinese dissidents and forcibly repatriating them.
“We never forcibly arrested anti-Chinese people, it’s not something we’re involved in. We don’t have the ability or authority to do so,” he told journalists at that time.
Wang said he served as the head of the Overseas Chinese Service Centre in Seoul, which local news reports had accused of having links to the secret police.
What are China’s ‘secret police stations’ and is their role exaggerated?
He said the organisation “helps Chinese people who die or are injured [in South Korea] due to unexpected circumstances such as illness, to return to China”.
The US State Department describes China’s United Front Work Department as being “responsible for coordinating domestic and foreign influence operations, through propaganda and manipulation of susceptible audiences and individuals” for the interests of the Communist Party.
Chinese authorities have previously said the facilities are run “voluntarily” to offer services such as renewing documents for Chinese nationals overseas.
But Safeguard Defenders believe the main function of the facilities is to pressure some Chinese dissidents to return to China to face criminal charges.
The tools they use to do so, including “denying the target’s children in China the right to education”, are “similar to the North Korean practice”, the group has alleged.
Its report said such police stations were operated out of four Chinese jurisdictions: Nantong, Wenzhou, Qingtian and Fuzhou. The one in South Korea is believed by the group to be operated out of Nantong, a city in China’s southeastern Jiangsu province.
Against this backdrop, Choi Jae-hyung, a lawmaker from South Korea’s ruling People Power Party, last week introduced a bill to the National Assembly with a view to forcing all foreign governments’ agents in the country to register with the Justice Ministry.
Choi said this would enable authorities to identify any instructions, orders and money that were delivered to such agents and help officials to detect influence operations designed to intervene in domestic policies or bend public opinion.
Cho Tae-yong, one of Seoul’s top national security officials, said last week that South Korea would build a “healthy bilateral relationship with China” through a “self-confident diplomacy” in line with the country’s increased national strength.
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Yang Uk, a security expert at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies think tank, said South Korea had apparently reached its limit in “letting Chinese agents operate without restraints” as conservative President Yoon toughens his stance towards Beijing.
“The two countries should address this issue quietly to avoid a vicious cycle of tit-for-tat in expelling each other’s agents,” Yang said.
Lee Il-woo, an analyst at the Korea Defence Network, said that in addition to the usual intelligence collecting activities, Chinese agents were suspected of using Chinese migrant workers and students in South Korea to influence public opinion online in favour of China.
Additional reporting by Korea Times