A jet ski rider who has been detained since he washed up on South Korea’s coast is believed to be a Chinese dissident who feared for his safety and fled by crossing hundreds of miles of sea, trailing barrels of fuel behind him.

The coast guard in the western South Korean port city of Incheon said in a statement Sunday that a Chinese man in his 30s tried to illegally enter the country Aug. 16 by riding a jet ski from the Shandong area of China, an eastern province around 200 miles away across the Yellow Sea.

  • SmokesForBreakfast@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m genuinely curious about the part of how many can afford flights. If anybody out there have any stats on that I would greatly appreciate it.

    • dublet@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      For a start:

      One in 10 American households struggled to feed their families last year, with more than 5 million families missing meals and cutting portions due to poverty https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/07/us-food-insecure-families-poverty-study

      My assumption would be that if you barely afford food, a flight would be out the window too.

      As ever Wikipedia is a good resources to further information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States

      This bit in particular sticks out:

      Among married couple families: 5.8% lived in poverty.[89] This number varied by race and ethnicity as follows:

      • 5.4% of all white persons (which includes white Hispanics),[90]
      • 10.7% of all black persons (which includes black Hispanics),[91]
      • 14.9% of all Hispanic persons (of any race)[92] living in poverty.

      Among single parent (male or female) families: 26.6% lived in poverty.[89] This number varied by race and ethnicity as follows:

      • 22.5% of all white persons (which includes white Hispanics),[90]
      • 44.0% of all black persons (which includes black Hispanics),[91]
      • 33.4% of all Hispanic persons (of any race)[93] living in poverty.

      Among individuals living alone: 19.1% lived in poverty.[89] This number varied by race and ethnicity as follows:

      • 18% of white persons (which includes white Hispanics),[94]
      • 28.9% of black persons (which includes black Hispanics)[93]
      • 27% of Hispanic persons (of any race)[95] are living in poverty