Seoul searches for China's 'secret police station’

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The South Korean government is looking into alleged operations of China's undeclared "overseas police service center" here, following revelations by an international human rights group that Beijing has been operating more than 100 entities to suppress dissidents around the world.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the military, police counterespionage organizations and related government ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have all been mobilized to check whether any of such Chinese police stations exist here.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry official said in a briefing Tuesday there is nothing special to announce yet.

The Chinese Embassy in Seoul told The Korea Herald that there is nothing further to add to Beijing's stance on the issue. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Oct. 2 that the facilities in question are not related to police forces.

Earlier in September, Madrid-based international human rights organization Safeguard Defenders published a report titled "110 Overseas – China's Transnational Policing Gone Wild" claiming that China had opened 54 secret police stations in 21 foreign countries, mainly in Europe.

The human rights organization renewed its report last month, saying it had confirmed an additional 48 stations, including one in South Korea. So far, more than 102 secret police stations have been identified by the organization across 53 countries.

"Chinese Overseas Police Service Centers" are also known as "110 overseas service stations" -- as 110 is the Chinese police reporting number. The stations are suspected of being used to track down Chinese dissidents who had fled from the country to force or blackmail them to return home.

Chinese authorities claim the stations are legal facilities to provide services to expatriates, such as renewing driver's licenses and registration of local homes. They claim that stations were founded to help Chinese nationals who suffered delays in paperwork during the COVID-19 pandemic, but according to a report by Safeguard Defenders, it was way before the pandemic that China began to create its secret stations.

Contrary to the Chinese authorities' explanation, many countries are tracking and shutting down the stations. Japanese local daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported Tuesday that the Japanese Foreign Ministry lodged a protest with the Chinese government, saying, "If there is an activity that violates our sovereignty, it will never be tolerated." Two secret stations within Japan had been identified, the newspaper added.

Canadian police confirmed on Oct. 27 that three secret Chinese police stations were operating around Toronto. The Dutch government also announced on Nov. 1 that it had immediately closed two "Chinese illegal police stations" in its country.

The United States Department of State also commented on Dec. 6, "We worry about China's crackdown across borders, and we take this issue seriously."

By Lee Jung-youn(jy@heraldcorp.com)