New Zealand’s top court yesterday ruled that a man can be extradited to China to face a murder charge — a judgement that goes against the trend set by most democratic nations.
In a 3-2 decision, the New Zealand Supreme Court found that China was able to give New Zealand officials sufficient assurance that the accused, Kim Kyung-yup, could get a fair trial and would not be tortured.
Concerns over those issues have been enough to stop most democratic countries from extraditing suspects to China in the past few years.
New Zealand — like many other democratic nations — does not have a formal extradition treaty with China.
Kim’s lawyers said that they would try to stop the extradition, first by filing a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee and then, if needed, by filing a fresh judicial review based on Kim’s poor health.
Lawyer Tony Ellis said that Kim was disappointed by the judgement.
Ellis said that his client is in a suicidal state due to his health issues, which include severe depression, a small brain tumor, and liver and kidney disease.
Ellis said that he had trouble understanding the decision given that for the past 10 years, most countries had stopped extraditing people to China.
Almost every suspect in China pleads guilty before going to trial, because they know that if they do not, they will be tortured, he said.
The Supreme Court found that China was able to give sufficient assurance that Kim would be jailed in Shanghai, where New Zealand consulate staff could monitor him before and during his trial.
The court found that “if no substantial grounds exist for believing an individual accused is at risk of torture because of the assurances provided, the individual should not avoid prosecution for a serious crime.”
Kim was arrested in 2011 after China asked to extradite him on one count of intentional homicide.
He was incarcerated in New Zealand jails for more than five years, and spent another three years on electronic monitoring, making him the longest-serving prisoner not to face a trial in modern New Zealand.
Kim is a South Korean citizen who moved to New Zealand more than 30 years ago with his family when he was 14.
He is accused of killing Chen Peiyun, a 20-year-old waitress and sex worker, in Shanghai after traveling to the city to visit a different woman who was his girlfriend at the time.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS