MAKING WAVES

Suspected Chinese Dissident Flees to South Korea on Jet Ski: Reports

Officials say he made it over 180 miles across the Yellow Sea navigating with binoculars and a compass.

A suspected Chinese dissident was detained in South Korea after apparently attempting to flee to the country on a jet ski, reports say. Local media has named the man as Kwon Pyong, a rights activist and critic of Chinese President Xi Jinping, but his identity has not yet been confirmed. According to the South Korean coast guard, the man traveled roughly 186 miles across the Yellow Sea, navigating with a pair of binoculars and a compass before he got stuck. Officials said he called for help near a cruise terminal off the port of Incheon and was found towing five barrels of fuel. “He refilled the petrol on the ride and dumped the empty barrels into the sea,” the coast guard said, adding that he was then detained last Wednesday for trying to “smuggle himself” into the city. A campaigner with the nonprofit Dialogue China told the AFP on Tuesday that 35-year-old Kwon—who has previously served prison time for criticizing Xi—was the man who had been arrested.