2 South Korean drug dealers executed in Jilin

Two South Koreans were executed in China yesterday for smuggling and selling drugs in the country, the Yonhap news agency reported, quoting South Korea's foreign ministry.

The two — identified only by their last names, Kim and Paek — were convicted by a court in the city of Baishan, northeast China's Jilin Province, for smuggling 14 kilograms of methamphetamines from North Korea into China and selling it to traffickers in their home country in 2010 and 2011, Yonhap said yesterday.

The South Koreans were the first from their nation to be executed in China since a countryman was executed in 2004 for murder. Another South Korean was executed in 2001 after being convicted of drug crimes.

Kim and Paek, aged 53 and 45, were arrested in April 2011 for smuggling 14.8kg of meth and selling 12.3kg of it to dealers in South Korea, Yonhap said.

The court had earlier sentenced them to death and the province's appellate court upheld the ruling in June 2013. China's highest court finally confirmed the sentence in March, according to Yonhap.

A third South Korean, identified only as Chang, was convicted in 2009 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, for smuggling and trading 11.9kg of drugs. He had his death sentence confirmed by an appeals court last year, Yonhap said.

Producing or trading more than 1 kilogram of opium or 50 grams of methamphetamine or heroin is subject to heavy punishment in China.