A Korean-American aid worker working in a Chinese city near North Korea has been arrested on charges of embezzlement and possession of fake invoices, his lawyer said today.
Shanghai-based lawyer Zhang Peihong said he was notified by prosecutors in China's northeastern Yanbian prefecture of the arrest of Peter Hahn, a Christian who ran a vocational school for Chinese and Korean youth for more than a decade in the border town of Tumen.
The charges appear to be an excuse to incriminate the man, who also had provided food to North Korean children, Zhang said.
It is too early to suggest Hahn has been targeted for his religious beliefs, although his aid work was inspired by his Christian faith, Zhang said.
"I am not optimistic about the case's prospects now that he has been arrested," the lawyer said. "The charges clearly have no merit."
No trial date has been set, Zhang said.
Earlier this year, authorities detained a Canadian Christian couple, Kevin and Julia Garratt, who had lived in Dandong, another Chinese town bordering with North Korea, for suspected theft of military and intelligence information. Their current status was unclear.
