Kato's Criminal Activities 'Irrefutable', FM Spokesman

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 08, 2002

Kato's Criminal Activities 'Irrefutable', FM Spokesman

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Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said Thursday the criminal activities of Hiroshi Kato, a Japanese man who organized the illegal entry of DPRK citizens into China and foreign embassies, are "irrefutable" and his allegations of being "maltreated" in China are "groundless".

On Oct. 30, Chinese judiciary authorities detained Kato as the mastermind behind citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) illegally entering China and trespassing into foreign embassies in the country, Kong said.

Since June 2000, Kato has, working in collaboration with felon groups, organized 12 DPRK citizens to illegally enter Japan or the Republic of Korea via China, and plotted the intrusion of these illegal immigrants into the Spanish embassy in China on March 14.

"Kato has confessed all the criminal indictments, saying that he was in China again in an attempt to organize more trespasses into foreign embassies or consulates," Kong said.

Kato's activities, the spokesman noted, had seriously disturbed China's entry and exit administrative order and public social security, jeopardized the safety of foreign embassies and consulates and thus violated clauses 318 and 290 of China's Criminal Law.

With the irrefutable evidence against him, Kato should have been severely punished, Kong said, noting that in view of his relatively good attitude in the confession of his crimes during interrogation, China dealt with him leniently and merely ordered him to leave the country before a set date.

However, Kato, upon his return to Japan, denied all the crimes he had committed in China, claimed to have been maltreated during the interrogations, and accused China of failing to notify the Japanese embassy in China of his case.

"Kato's accusations against the Chinese side are totally groundless, and China deeply regrets his behavior," Kong said.

According to Article 36, Section 2 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Kato himself was entitled to request the Chinese side to notify the Japanese embassy in China of his detainment, the spokesman said. Although Kato did not do so, the Chinese side still notified the Japanese embassy in China in accordance with the convention's specifications.

"China has recorded Kato's all criminal evidences and they are irrefutable. As to the so-called maltreatment, it is all the more a pure fabrication," the spokesman said.

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