BEIJING -- A Korean-American aid worker in a Chinese city near North Korea has been arrested on charges of embezzlement and possession of fake invoices, his lawyer said Friday.
Shanghai-based lawyer Zhang Peihong said he was notified by prosecutors in China's northeastern Yanbian prefecture of the arrest of Peter Hahn, a 74-year-old Christian who ran a vocational school for Chinese and Korean youths 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 was unclear whether Hahn was targeted because of his religious beliefs, although his aid work was inspired by his Christian faith, Zhang said.
No trial date has been set, Zhang said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Jen Psaki confirmed Hahn's arrest. She said a U.S. consular officer visited Hahn in jail Friday and that the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang is providing all possible consular assistance. She referred reporters to Chinese authorities for any additional information.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond Friday to requests for comment.
Hahn was born in North Korea but is a naturalized U.S. citizen. After he retired as a social worker in Los Angeles County, he moved to Tumen in hopes of helping North Koreans, according to a 2005 profile of him in the Los Angeles Times.
A Section on 12/20/2014