Epoch Times: Blacklist Reemerges in South Korea Before Hu Jintao's Visit

November 22nd, 2005

Another "blacklist" from the Chinese Communist government began circulating prior to Chinese president Hu Jintao's visit to South Korea to attend the informal leadership summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Zhang Qingxi, secretary of the Taiwan Falun Dafa Association and a professor in the department of economics at National Taiwan University, was delayed for two hours at the Inchon International Airport customs before his entry into South Korea. The customs officers clearly told him it was "because of his ties to Falun Gong."

Professor Zhang, invited by The Epoch Times Korea Branch Agency, was going to attend the symposium "Truth and Outlook of Chinese Economy" held on November 15th.

Since November 8th, Hu Jintao has been on his way to visit Britain, Germany, Spain and Korea and will attend the APEC in Pusan, South Korea on November 18th-19th. In the past, several blacklists have come out when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government's senior officials travelled abroad, such as the president or the prime minister. More than a few countries and areas received such blacklists, including Hong Kong, Iceland and Singapore, and they were asked to refuse Falun Gong practitioners from entering their boarders.

Zhang Qingxi said that he and Dr. Gao Weibang, the Secretary of "The Victims' Association for China Investors," planned to attend a symposium discussing the Chinese economy, which was held at Seoul Parliament Constitutional Memorial.

Professor Zhang said that they arrived at the Inchon International Airport in Seoul at 6:00 p.m. on November 14th on flight BR160 from Taipei. Dr. Gao went through customs first, but when the customs officer typed in Zhang's passport info, he was immediately asked to go to a nearby office.

Soon the customs officers were making phone calls but did not give Zhang any explanation. Later, Professor Zhang had to inform them of his travelling purpose and provide his personal information as well as a contact person in South Korea. After they confirmed he was truly invited and that one of the cosponsors of the symposium is a member of Korean Parliament, they then allowed Zhang to enter.

Professor Zhang said that at the moment he was allowed to go, the officers clearly told him that he was held at the airport for that long "because of his ties to Falun Gong." Zhang said, "In other words, the CCP has given a blacklist to South Korea, and surprisingly, South Korea accepted it." In February of 2003, when Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners holding officially issued visas went to Hong Kong to attend a Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference that had been approved by the local authorities, about 80 of them were compulsorily detained by the Hong Kong Immigration Office and later deported by the police. Hong Kong police injured several female practitioners due to the violent treatment. In April of 2003, one of the victims, Zhu Wanqi, and Jian Hongzhang, the spokesman of Hong Kong Falun Dafa Association, together with three other plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit against the Hong Kong government seeking justice for human rights.

On November 4th, Judge Michael Hartmann of the High Court of Hong Kong ruled in a written document that, based on the public's interest, the Hong Kong Immigration Department must explain why the four Falun Gong practitioners were put on a blacklist and denied entry to Hong Kong, and when and which government officials put them on the blacklist.

Professor Zhang Qingxi expressed deep sorrow about the reemergence of the CCP's blacklist in South Korea.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-11-22/34882.html