A former police officer turned human‑rights activist has done the unspeakable: a solo 30‑hour expedition across open waters in a rubber boat, driven by a desperate bid to escape the state’s crackdown.
Dong Guangping, 68, was found drifting off the coast of Taean in South Korea on Monday night, barely conscious after exhaustion and a lack of water. South Korea’s coast guard rescued him after a fishing vessel saw him in distress. He is under investigation for suspected immigration violations, the coast guard said, indicating he will be referred to prosecutors.
Dong, who was jailed in China on multiple occasions for his activism – including stone‑walling the 2015 Tiananmen Square commemorations – has rebelled against the system at least three times. He first fled to Bangkok with his wife and daughter in 2015, where the United Nations granted them refugee status. The Thai authorities deported them back to China just before departure, sparking international condemnation. Subsequent escape attempts in 2019 (across the Taiwan Strait) and 2020 (to Vietnam) ended with him being recaptured and eventually deported.
In the latest attempt, he departed Weifang in Shandong province in a kerosene‑powered inflatable. According to Canadian‑based activist Sheng Xue, who sent him a message upon arrival, Dong had spent more than 30 hours at sea, falling into a state of fainting from exhaustion. He narrated how the fishing boat first spotted him and subsequently ran him to safety.
Human Rights in China – an NGO based in New York – urged Seoul to uphold international human‑rights obligations, arguing that handing him over would expose him to torture and persecution. Officials in South Korea say he will face review under domestic immigration law, but the NGO has requested that his asylum claim be considered or that he be allowed travel to Canada, where his family resides.
The fact that a man nearing seventy felt compelled to cross open seas in a small inflatable boat is an indictment of China’s human‑rights environment, the NGO wrote.
Dong’s case does not occur in a vacuum. Korean authorities have previously detained other Chinese dissidents crossing from mainland China – such as Kwon Pyong, who arrived on a jet ski in 2023 and was later resettled in the United States.
The incident underlines the risks faced by activists who seek safe haven and the urgent need for clear, humane immigration procedures that respect international norms.
Dong Guangping, 68, was found drifting off the coast of Taean in South Korea on Monday night, barely conscious after exhaustion and a lack of water. South Korea’s coast guard rescued him after a fishing vessel saw him in distress. He is under investigation for suspected immigration violations, the coast guard said, indicating he will be referred to prosecutors.
Dong, who was jailed in China on multiple occasions for his activism – including stone‑walling the 2015 Tiananmen Square commemorations – has rebelled against the system at least three times. He first fled to Bangkok with his wife and daughter in 2015, where the United Nations granted them refugee status. The Thai authorities deported them back to China just before departure, sparking international condemnation. Subsequent escape attempts in 2019 (across the Taiwan Strait) and 2020 (to Vietnam) ended with him being recaptured and eventually deported.
In the latest attempt, he departed Weifang in Shandong province in a kerosene‑powered inflatable. According to Canadian‑based activist Sheng Xue, who sent him a message upon arrival, Dong had spent more than 30 hours at sea, falling into a state of fainting from exhaustion. He narrated how the fishing boat first spotted him and subsequently ran him to safety.
Human Rights in China – an NGO based in New York – urged Seoul to uphold international human‑rights obligations, arguing that handing him over would expose him to torture and persecution. Officials in South Korea say he will face review under domestic immigration law, but the NGO has requested that his asylum claim be considered or that he be allowed travel to Canada, where his family resides.
The fact that a man nearing seventy felt compelled to cross open seas in a small inflatable boat is an indictment of China’s human‑rights environment, the NGO wrote.
Dong’s case does not occur in a vacuum. Korean authorities have previously detained other Chinese dissidents crossing from mainland China – such as Kwon Pyong, who arrived on a jet ski in 2023 and was later resettled in the United States.
The incident underlines the risks faced by activists who seek safe haven and the urgent need for clear, humane immigration procedures that respect international norms.
