(image: Pixabay)
SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — A Chinese restaurant in southern Seoul, suspected of having functioned as a secret Chinese police station, is said to discontinue business next month, restaurant officials said Friday.
The restaurant has received media attention after the Spain-based human rights watchdog Safeguard Defenders insisted early this month that China was operating more than 102 clandestine police stations in 53 countries, including South Korea, to monitor and repatriate dissidents living in exile.
South Korean counterintelligence authorities have reportedly been collecting information on the restaurant and its business conditions, with a possibility in mind that it may be the base of a secret Chinese police organization here.
But Beijing’s foreign ministry and the restaurant have denied the allegations.
One restaurant official said its operation will continue only until the end of this month. “The planned closure is not related to the news on secret police stations. We’ll be closing business, because a yearlong lawsuit is now over,” said the official, adding everyone will leave on Jan. 1 due to an eviction request.
Previously, the restaurant announced on its website it will be temporarily closed from Jan. 1-31 next year due to interior work.
At present, public access to the restaurant is restricted, as it has posted a notice saying “Only guests with reservations are accepted. Please understand.”
(Yonhap)
