A Chinese court sentenced Yu Jiafu, a former reporter at the state-run Xinhua news agency, to 18 years in prison in early May for distributing state secrets to Japanese and South Korean diplomats in 2006, an Australian newspaper has reported.
Yu was found guilty of handing out state secrets to diplomats, including Japanese Ambassador to China Yuji Miyamoto and former senior South Korean diplomat Li Jiaxian, The Australian said in its online edition recently.
Miyamoto said Thursday through the Japanese Embassy in Beijing that he cannot comment on specific diplomatic activities, but sees no problem because the envoy respects Chinese laws.