A Chinese dissident who has long been a thorn in Beijing's side has escaped to South Korea on a rubber boat, his lawyer confirmed on Wednesday (May 27, 2026), after repeated attempts to flee China.

Dong Guangping, a former policeman who was imprisoned for his activism, was found by South Korean authorities on Monday (May 25, 2026) night drifting off the country's west coast on a 3.3-metre (11-foot) rubber boat with a 9.9-horsepower engine, according to police.

He was taken to shore for questioning on suspicion of violating immigration laws.

The man's lawyer, Kim Joo-kwang, confirmed his identity to AFP.

Mr. Dong, 68, is known for his opposition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and his advocacy for political reform and human rights.

He was dismissed from his work as a policeman after signing a petition a decade after Beijing's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to U.S.-based advocacy group Human Rights in China.

He later spent about three years in prison from 2001 for "inciting subversion of state power", United Nations experts said, and was detained again in 2014 over Tiananmen-related activities.

Mr. Dong fled to Thailand with his family, who later resettled in Canada as refugees, but Thai authorities handed him over to Chinese police in 2015 despite his UN-recognised refugee status.

He was released from prison after completing his sentence in 2019.

But faced with constant police surveillance, harassment and a lack of access to housing, work and financial resources, he decided to flee again in an attempt to reunite with his family, according to a UN report from 2022.

Before arriving in South Korea, Mr. Dong made several failed attempts to flee China.

In 2019, he tried to swim to the Kinmen archipelago, a Taiwanese territory, but nearly drowned at sea. In 2020, he crossed into Vietnam, but was detained by Vietnamese police.

Mr. Dong's attorney told AFP his client's current situation is "highly likely to be a political asylum case".

Full protection

Chinese-Canadian journalist and human rights activist Sheng Xue, who described Mr. Dong as a friend, said in a post on X Wednesday (May 27, 2026) that Mr. Dong set off from Weihai, in China's Shandong Province, after "meticulous inspection and preparation".

"Last night, I spoke with him on the phone. He hadn't slept for over fifty hours and had been at sea for more than thirty hours," she said.

His rubber boat was spotted by the captain of a fishing boat at 9:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) on Monday (May 25, 2026), about 18 km (11 miles) northwest of Taean County, South Chungcheong Province, who then alerted the police, according to Ms. Sheng.

The Coast Guard dispatched a patrol vessel that arrived at the scene about an hour later, and Mr. Dong was detained, she added.

South Korea has granted political asylum to a relatively small number of applicants since it began formally processing refugee claims in 1994, with an overall recognition rate in the low single digits despite tens of thousands of applications.

Critics say the low approval rate reflects strict screening and lengthy procedures, while the government maintains that decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and take security considerations into account.

Seoul's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The opposition People Power Party has called on the government to offer Mr. Dong "full protection".

"It should take swift humanitarian measures to ensure that he can safely travel to Canada, where his family is anxiously awaiting him," party spokesman Choo Hyun-chul said in a statement to AFP.

"This is a matter of a fundamental responsibility as a liberal democratic state."