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China executes North Korean for dealing drugs also

August 7, 2014

SHENYANG, China (Yonhap) — A North Korean national has been executed in China for smuggling and trading drugs, court documents showed Thursday, following the executions of three South Korean drug dealers in the country this week.

A 32-year-old man identified by his surname Oh was executed for selling 3.75 kilograms (8.27 pounds) of methamphetamine he had smuggled into China from North Korea between October and November 2010, according to a district court in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin Province.

The court documents showed that Oh was arrested in November that year for trafficking an additional 0.9 kilogram of methamphetamine from his home country.

The execution is the latest in a series of punishments of North Korean drug offenders in China’s northeastern provinces that border the communist regime.

It also follows the executions of three South Korean drug dealers despite repeated pleas by Seoul for clemency.

Earlier in the day, a district court in Qingdao, Shandong Province, carried out the execution of a South Korean criminal surname Jang for smuggling and selling methamphetamine.

On Wednesday, two other South Koreans were executed in China’s Jilin Province for drug offenses.

The latest uses of the death penalty mark China’s first executions of South Koreans since a South Korean national was executed in 2004 for committing murder. Another South Korean was executed in 2001 after being convicted of drug crimes.

Producing or trading more than 1 kilogram of opium or 50 grams of methamphetamine or heroin is subject to heavy punishment in China.

South Korea’s foreign ministry expressed “deep regret” following Wednesday’s execution, saying the government had repeatedly pleaded for clemency for the criminals on humanitarian grounds.