Photo : YONHAP News
China’s foreign ministry says it is handling, in accordance with the law, the case concerning a South Korean who has been detained in China for nearly a year on suspicion of violating the country’s anti-espionage law.
The ministry’s spokesperson Lin Jian revealed the stance on Tuesday after a KBS reporter asked about the status of the detained South Korean man and whether the ministry had held negotiations with Seoul on his release.
The case marks the first time a South Korean national was detained on suspicion of violating the anti-espionage law since China expanded the scope of the legislation in July 2023.
Lin said the South Korean was detained on suspicion of anti-espionage law violation, adding that the related agency had informed the South Korean Embassy in Beijing of the matter and the embassy had provided necessary accommodations for consular work.
The spokesperson then said China is a constitutional state that investigates and penalizes illegal and criminal activities in line with the law.
Lin’s remarks come hours after KBS released a report on the South Korean detainee.
In its report, KBS said Chinese authorities apprehended the man at his residence in December.
The man, who is in his 50s and lives in Anhui Province in eastern China, was formally detained in May by the Chinese prosecution.
Since moving to China in 2016, he worked for ChangXin Memory Technologies, China’s largest memory semiconductor manufacturer.
Local security authorities say he obtained information about semiconductors while working for the Chinese company and leaked it to South Korea.