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Local police found themselves involved in a diplomatic incident when they pulled over a group of Chinese diplomats for a breathalyzer test on Tuesday, with the resulting standoff lasting all night. Police pulled over a car with the diplomatic license plate of the Chinese Embassy near the main gate of Ewha Women's University around 9:50 p.m. on Tuesday. The driver and three passengers declined to take the test or confirm their identities and kept doors and windows locked.
Police guided the car into a corner, where the standoff continued for eight-and-a-half hours until 6:15 the next morning, when police let the car go after Foreign Ministry staff stepped in. Three officials with the Chinese Embassy who rushed to the scene said a breathalyzer test was against international law under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. They said a diplomatic vehicle on duty is entitled to diplomatic immunity, and those riding in it do not need submit to a breathalyzer test. They promised to lodge an official protest with the police and the Foreign Ministry.
Law enforcement clashed head-on with the Vienna Convention. Article 29 of the Convention says, "The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity or prosecution under the host country's laws." Article 31 says a diplomat ¡°shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State. He shall also enjoy immunity from its civil and administrative jurisdiction.¡±
A police officer disagreed. ¡°When we have clear evidence such as smelling alcohol on the breath, we can demand a breathalyzer test, and if our demand is refused, we pass the identity and the license plate number to the Foreign Ministry to call for administrative action.¡± But the Chinese officials made that impossible by refusing to confirm their identities. An officer with Seodaemun Police Station said, "Diplomats usually flash their diplomatic IDs in such situations, but since they didn¡¯t, we suspected the car was stolen.¡± An official with the station's external affairs section said, "Even diplomats should respect traffic regulations here. They can enjoy extraterritorial rights in their official and private residences and in terms of their person and documents, but it makes no sense that they refuse to show their IDs citing immunity.¡± Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters diplomats do enjoy immunity, ¡°but they basically need to respect regulations in their host country.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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