June 2026 Transnational Repression Update

Incidents of transnational repression targeting practitioners of Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts continued throughout June 2026, with at least 10 documented cases spanning the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. June’s incidents included two physical assaults on Falun Gong information sites alongside the continued use of impersonation, in which senders posed as the media outlets founded by Falun Gong practitioners, the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC), and even Falun Gong’s founder to spread threats and fabricated warnings. Several threats clustered around the anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Physical assaults

Two violent attacks on public Falun Gong information sites were documented in June, both resulting in property damage and, in one case, injuries to practitioners.

On June 2 on Jeju Island, South Korea, three Chinese men attacked a Falun Gong information site outside the Shilla Duty Free Store in the Yeon-dong district, where eight practitioners were holding a lawful assembly. The men shouted demands to take the display down, then escalated to violence. The injured practitioners submitted medical certificates to police. Korean police arrested all three men at the scene as flagrant offenders, on allegations of obstructing an assembly, assault resulting in injury, and property destruction.

On June 4 in London, United Kingdom, a Falun Gong information site at the main entrance of the British Museum was attacked twice in succession. While practitioner Tan Hongyun was distributing informational flyers to passersby, a man of Asian appearance abruptly tore down a display board beside her and threw it to the ground. When Ms. Tan approached to ask why he had destroyed the board, the man left the scene quickly, accompanied and shielded by three other companions. Shortly afterward, on the other side of the museum’s main entrance, two more men of Asian appearance damaged a second display board. When a practitioner surnamed Li stepped in to stop them, he was forcefully shoved; the men berated him, and before leaving, one photographed him at close range while making threats. Two Western bystanders intervened to prevent further escalation.

This is at least the second assault incident at the same location in London this year. On February 23, Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Chunping was violently assaulted near the back entrance of the British Museum by a tour bus driver who snatched her banner, smashed her phone, and repeatedly struck and shoved her to the ground; London police opened a criminal investigation after bystanders provided video footage and the vehicle’s license plate.

Impersonation of Falun Gong–related organizations and personnel—a tactic repeatedly observed over the past two years—continued throughout June, extending to new targets including Chinese pro-democracy groups and June 4 commemoration events.

• On June 3, a submission to the Falun Dafa Information Center’s public contact form (IP 165.154.112.56—the same address used in a threatening submission on May 15) impersonated NTD Television, a media outlet founded by Falun Gong practitioners, and used the name of prominent Tiananmen-era dissident Wang Dan. The message claimed that multiple U.S. venues commemorating the June 4 anniversary had “already been infiltrated” and warned that if commemorative activities began, coordinated attacks—including shots “fired directly at people’s heads”—would follow.

• On June 5 and June 6, a fabricated Proton Mail address impersonating the FDIC ([email protected]) sent unfounded violent warnings to two recipients. This Proton Mail address is not an official address of the FDIC; the Center’s only official contact address is [email protected], and it does not operate any address on the Proton service. The first message, sent to the Taiwan edition of The Epoch Times, claimed that FDIC had received “verified intelligence” that unidentified individuals were preparing weapons, including firearms, to kidnap, assault, or shoot members of Shen Yun Performing Arts and their associates. The second, sent to a China Democracy Party contact in the United States, declared that party members would “one after another” be robbed, killed, kidnapped, struck by cars, or have their homes set on fire within two months. Both messages fabricated FDIC’s voice to spread fear and false threat intelligence.

• On June 24, a submission through the public contact form of the Shinjuku Cultural Center in Tokyo—the same Japanese venue targeted repeatedly in May—impersonated both Falun Gong’s founder, Li Hongzhi, and the email address of the Shen Yun Arts Proficiency Assessment Center. The message warned that “a terrorist attack will occur at Yasukuni Shrine” within three days.

Bomb and death threats

Direct threats of violence in June targeted a media outlet in Taiwan, the Dragon Springs campus, and a Shen Yun performance in Toronto.

• On June 4—the Tiananmen anniversary itself—a bomb threat was emailed to the Taiwan edition of The Epoch Times, claiming a C4 explosive had been placed at the newspaper’s Neihu District address in Taipei and would be detonated unless all content related to June 4 was deleted and taken down by 3 p.m. The sender used the name of Tiananmen student leader Wuer Kaixi and an email address mimicking NTD.

• On June 7, a threat was submitted through the live chat of the Shen Yun Arts Proficiency Assessment Center (IP 154.23.238.117), impersonating an editor of The Epoch Times and stating: “We will soon go to the Temple of Dragon Springs and set it on fire.”

• On June 11, the live chat on Shen Yun’s official ticketing site received the same threatening message 54 times in succession, targeting the June 25 Shen Yun performance in Toronto. Sent from an IP address in Kowloon, Hong Kong (154.23.238.114), and again impersonating an editor of The Epoch Times, the message warned: “Anyone who dares to broadcast Shen Yun will face serious danger—Canadian Prime Minister, theater staff, and all other personnel!”

• On June 26, a submission to the FDIC contact form (IP 154.23.238.117—the same address as the June 7 arson threat) claimed that the food supply at Dragon Springs “has already been compromised” and that a serious poisoning incident killing or injuring many would occur within six months, adding that the event was “unstoppable” even with advance warning.

Taken together, these incidents bring the total number of anonymous death threats to intimidate Falun Gong practitioners and discourage support for Falun Gong and Shen Yun since March 2024 to 302, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center’s incident tracker updated on June 30.

Although no physical harm has resulted from the anonymous threats to date, the June assaults in South Korea and the United Kingdom demonstrate that the campaign against Falun Gong communities is not confined to online intimidation. All incidents have been reported to law enforcement authorities and remain under investigation.

Context and continuing pattern

The June incidents display the recurring hallmarks of a coordinated campaign: the reuse of IP addresses across separate threats (154.23.238.x in three incidents; 165.154.112.56 matching a May submission), impersonation of media outlets founded by Falun Gong practitioners such as The Epoch Times and NTD, spoofing of the Falun Dafa Information Center itself, and the false-flag use of well-known Chinese dissidents’ names as fabricated senders. The clustering of threats around the June 4 Tiananmen anniversary, and the extension of fabricated FDIC warnings to the China Democracy Party, indicate that the campaign targets not only Falun Gong but the broader Chinese diaspora dissident community.

All incidents have been reported to law enforcement authorities in the relevant jurisdictions and remain under investigation.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at [email protected].