Seoul has repatriated two Chinese members of the Falun Gong spiritual group following a court decision not to grant them refugee status, officials said yesterday.
A justice ministry spokesman said they were deported last month following the earlier court decision. He declined to say whether more would be sent back.
But the court rejected similar petitions from 30 other people, saying they could not prove they had been persecuted in China.
In March this year the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision.
Lee Yanglan, a Korean-American Falun Gong practitioner, said Seoul sent three Falun Gong members back to China last month while two others await deportation in a detention center.
The ministry spokesman denied accusations that Seoul was deporting Falun Gong members under pressure from the Chinese government: "The government cannot allow foreigners to stay illegally without clear evidence that they have been persecuted because of their faith."
Original text from: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/08/12/2003450914
(Reuters & AFP, August 12, 2009)
