Macau and South Korea signed on Wednesday an agreement on the transfer of fugitive offenders and an agreement on mutual legal assistance, enhancing judicial cooperation between the two sides, according to a statement by the Secretariat for Administration and Justice.
The signing ceremony of the Agreement on the Surrender of Fugitive Offenders and the Agreement concerning Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of Korea was held at Government Headquarters on Wednesday.
The agreements were signed by Secretary for Administration and Justice Sónia Chan Hoi Fan and South Korea’s Hong Kong-based consul general, Kim Weon-jin, who is simultaneously accredited to Macau.
Deputy Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in Macau Wang Dong, members of the local government’s Working Group on International Judicial Cooperation and four South Korean consuls, apart from Kim, also attended the signing ceremony.
The accords are “fruitful achievements” after years of efforts made by both sides. They will have a positive impact on combating cross-border crimes between Macau and South Korea, Chan predicted.
Moreover, the agreements will also promote economic and commercial ties as well as people-to-people exchanges between the two sides, Chan told reporters on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.
South Koreans are Macau’s number-one segment of foreign visitor arrivals.
According to the statement, the agreements will come into force 30 days after the two jurisdictions mutually agree that the respective internal procedures have been completed.
Under Article 94 of the Macau Basic Law, with the assistance and authorisation of the central people’s government, the MSAR may make appropriate arrangements with foreign states for legal assistance or reciprocal judicial assistance.
After South Korea, the government is engaged in starting negotiations and concluding judicial cooperation agreements with other countries. According to the Macau Post Daily, the deals aim to reinforce negotiations with neighbouring countries, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) nations and Portuguese-speaking countries, according to the statement.
In May, Macau and Portugal signed an extradition agreement, while in 2017 Macau and Mongolia inked a similar accord.
