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Chinese dissident reaches Canada after dinghy escape via South Korea
Dong Guangping arrived in Toronto last week after a roughly 40-hour sea journey from China. He had been detained in South Korea before Canadian authorities accepted his resettlement.
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Chinese dissident Dong Guangping reached Toronto last week after traveling by dinghy from eastern China to South Korea. The 68-year-old had been imprisoned multiple times in China for activities related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and prior escape attempts.
Dong departed Weihai in Shandong province on May 24 in a gray rubber dinghy. Fog and a dying phone forced him to change course toward South Korea the next day. A fishing boat later pulled him aboard, and South Korean authorities detained him for immigration violations.
A South Korean court declined to issue an arrest warrant, citing insufficient grounds. Dong was transferred to a refugee center in Incheon. The U.N. refugee agency contacted him by video call earlier this month.
A refugee center manager recorded his physical details at the request of the Canadian diplomatic mission. Dong boarded a flight and arrived in Toronto on Friday. He said he believes his family's 2015 resettlement application remains valid. " He plans to seek work as a truck or rideshare driver while consulting a lawyer about possible legal action against Thailand and Vietnam over past deportations.
Dong said his long-term goal remains constitutional democracy in China. The Canadian Embassy in South Korea declined to comment, and the U.N. refugee agency and South Korean government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
