Convict returned to S. Korea

A South Korean man convicted of smuggling goods and sentenced to six years in prison by a Chinese court has been transferred to his home country to serve his sentence, as he has a severe illness, the Ministry of Justice said on Thursday.

"This is the first case in which a Chinese judicial authority has transferred a foreign convict who is in community correction to his own country to serve a jail term," Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the ministry's judicial assistance and foreign affairs department, told China Daily.

The transfer reflects the Chinese government's "respect for the human rights and other legitimate rights of a foreign convict and is willing to promote pragmatic cooperation between judicial organs in the two countries," he said.