Beijing police raid home of South Korean journalist

Reporters Without Borders today protested against the raid carried out by police in Beijing on 31 August on the home of Yeo Shi-Dong, correspondent of the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, in which the police seized his ID papers and files on North Korean refugees in China. "The response of the authorities has yet again been more or less veiled threats when foreign journalists cover sensitive issues", Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said in a letter to Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan. "Such systematic intimidation can only lead to self-censorship and clearly belies the supposed opening Beijing likes to invoke", the letter said, calling for the return of the journalist's files and an end to the harassment of foreign journalists working in China. Yeo Shi-Dong's home, which doubles as his office, was raided by the police shortly before midnight on 31 August. Showing no warrant and giving no explanation, the police searched the premises and questioned him for two hours about his movements, his family and his recent change of residence. They took documents relating to his investigation into North Korean refugees, his passport and the passports of family members, his certificate of residence in China and his press card. Before leaving, the police told him he had broken the law by failing to report his recent change of address to the local police station. A fine was imposed for this the next day at the immigration office. This is the first time such a regulation has been invoked. Until now, foreign correspondents were required only to notify the foreign ministry when changing residence, a requirement he had complied with. On 26 August, Yeo Shi-Dong had written an article on the arrest of several North Korean dissidents who had tried to force their way into the foreign ministry building to ask for refugee status. His newspaper, for its part, has on several occasions criticized China's position on North Korean dissidents, calling on the authorities to give them refugee status in the name of human rights, instead of sending them back to North Korea.