The Supreme Court, Sunday, rejected a petition calling for refugee status here for 32 Chinese Falun Gong members.
The court upheld a lower court's decision because it could not find enough proof that the practitioners would face severe oppression in China should they return there. The accusers claimed that they would be imprisoned, like 200,000 others, once deported.
They came to Korea in around 2000 to hold numerous campaigns against the Chinese government. They have held street exhibitions, making allegations about the Chinese government's suppression.
Previously, the Seoul Administration Court rejected the petition.
Falun Gong was introduced to China by Li Hongzhi in 1992 as a form of Qi practice. In 1999, following seven years of rapid growth in the mainland, the Chinese government banned the practice, declaring the trainees as a ``highly organized political group opposed to the Communist Party and the central government.''
Original text from: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/wwwewsation/2009/03/113_41318.html
