Japanese schoolboy killer in China executed: source

The Mainichi

21-04-2025

GUANGZHOU, China (Kyodo) -- A Chinese man convicted of fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen, southern China, in September has been executed, a diplomatic source said Monday.
Zhong Changchun was sentenced to death in January for killing the boy -- the son of a Japanese father and a Chinese mother -- near a Japanese school in the southern city. He did not appeal the sentence.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry informed the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Monday that the man had been executed, according to the source.
The man from Jiangxi Province told a Jan. 24 court hearing that he hoped to speak with the victim's family, as well as the Japanese Embassy in China, but he did not say he had specifically targeted Japanese nationals, said Kenji Kanasugi, ambassador to China.
Zhong attacked the boy after buying a knife to "draw online attention" through the assault, the envoy quoted the court ruling as saying. The boy died the following day after being stabbed on his way to the Japanese school in Shenzhen.
The stabbing occurred on the 93rd anniversary of the Japanese bombing of a railroad track near Shenyang, which marked the beginning of the Manchurian Incident that led to Japan's invasion of northeastern China.
Last week, Japanese government officials said a Chinese man convicted of killing a Chinese woman and injuring two Japanese nationals in a knife attack last June at a Japanese school bus stop in Suzhou near Shanghai had been executed.
The two deadly knife attacks sent shockwaves through Japanese communities in China. Tokyo has repeatedly asked Beijing to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals living in the country.