Coordinated by China's Ministry of Public Security, Chinese police in the southern city of Guangzhou handed over a Republic of Korea (ROK) fugitive, wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), to ROK police on Thursday. 

The suspect was later escorted back to ROK on board a flight from Guangzhou's Baiyun International Airport to ROK by its police escort team.

The suspect was found defrauding more than 300 ROK victims for two billion won (about 11.65 million yuan) by false low-interest loans. The Interpol then issued a red notice on the suspect.

On May 15 this year, ROK's consulate general in Guangzhou asked the Chinese authorities to assist in the arrest of the suspect, who was believed to be illegally residing in China. Soon after the ROK notification, Guangdong police launched an investigation, located the suspect and put him under police custody. 

2019 sees the 27th anniversary of the establishment of China-ROK diplomatic relationship. As the people-to-people cxchange between the two countries rapidly grows, this year has been seen a record number of visitors, 9.47 million, so far. A total of 67,000 ROK students were studying in China at the end of 2018, according to the official data.

However, the dense cross-border communication might make loopholes for suspects from both sides taking advantage of obtaining illegal residency in the neighbor country so as to avoid legal sanctions.

In response, China's Ministry of Public Security of China has established a regular cooperating mechanism and a 24-hour hotline with the law enforcement departments of ROK, including the Ministry of Justice and the General Procuratorate. In addition, China and ROK also formed a comprehensive, multi-level and multi-unit law enforcement coalition system.

The handover on Thursday followed around two months' bilateral efforts, marking a significant progress for China-ROK law enforcement and security cooperation. 

(Lai Shiwen also contributed to this story.)