Yang Bin loses appeal, gets 18-year prison term

HONG KONG ― Yang Bin, a Chinese-Dutch businessman once chosen by North Korea to head its special economic zone in Shinuiju, was sentenced by a Chinese appeals court to 18 years in prison and fined 2.3 million yuan ($278,000) on Sunday. Mr. Yang had been convicted of forging documents, concluding fraudulent contracts, bribery and illegally using farm land.
The court also fined Mr. Yang’s two companies 6 million yuan each.
The ruling, which was identical to the initial ruling, came from an appeals court in Liaoning province in northeast China at the end of a two-day trial.
Mr. Yang reportedly pleaded not guilty, arguing that he had tried to introduce the Netherlands’ advanced farming technology to China and accelerate North Korea’s economic reform.
Mr. Yang, 40, was listed as China’s second richest businessman by Forbes magazine in 2001. The North Korean government appointed him as the administrative minister, or head, of the Shinuiju special economic zone. Pyeongyang established the special zone in September 2002 as a capitalist enclave, hoping to draw foreign investors with tax breaks.
Chinese authorities arrested Mr. Yang in November, before he was able to take up the post, charging that he had engaged in business irregularities.
Mr. Yang obtained Dutch citizenship in 1987.

by Lee Yang-soo