AP reported that Peter Hahn, a U.S. citizen and a Christian, was arrested in Yanbian, China while he was doing relief activity in the area on the 19th. He has been working in a city that is very close to the North Korean border and was apprehended by Chinese police of the Korean Autonomous Prefecture.
Peter Hahn had been working in Tumen City situated in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture for over 10 years. According to South Korea’s Newsis, Hahn has been running a trade school for both Chinese and Korean teenagers. The Yanbian prosecutors’ office, according to Hahn’s lawyer from Shang Hai, had charged the American citizen with embezzlement and forgery of documents regarding his stay and his work in China.
It is reported that Hahn has also been working to deliver food and other supplies for North Korean children across the border. Interaction with the North Koreans across the Chinese border was illegal. Hahn’s lawyer commented that the Chinese government may want Han to come out guilty.
The lawyer also added that though Hahn’s relief activates in China targeting both the Chinese community and the North Koreans across the border, had been sparked by his Christian faith, it was probably not the main reason why he was being prosecuted in such a way. He noted that the date of his trial has yet to be announced.
It appears that the Chinese government has recently become even more sensitive with activists working near the North Korean border. Earlier this summer, a Canadian couple, who were also Christians, was arrested for stealing military secrets from the Chinese government. The couple was running a café in the city of Dandung in Jilin province not too far from the border. Their situation is currently unknown.
