NEW YORK (Reuters) – Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng urged authorities in Beijing on Thursday to prosecute “lawless” local officials who harassed and abused the self-taught lawyer, his family and supporters, saying such prosecutions could help China establish the rule of law.

In one of his first interviews since arriving in the United States last Saturday, Chen told Reuters the rough treatment of his family and supporters who helped him escape house arrest last month was “entirely against Chinese law.”

“If authorities can promptly investigate and prosecute those lawless officials who broke China’s laws, then possibly China can rather quickly move onto the road of rule of law,” said Chen, one of China’s most prominent dissidents.

“But if local officials continue to act wildly as they wish, perhaps in the near future my family’s situation will not be good, and I think that construction of the rule of law (that) the central government has undertaken in the last few decades will be thoroughly ruined,” he said.

After his escape, Chen sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for six days, embarrassing China and creating an awkward backdrop for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to improve ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

Chen is going to study as a fellow at New York University School of Law under a deal reached between the United States and China to resolve his situation.

He arrived in New York with his wife and two children on Saturday after China let him leave a Beijing hospital to quell a diplomatic rift with the United States. His right foot remains in a cast after he was injured fleeing the eastern China home in which he had been detained since 2010.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, who flew to the United States last week, said on Thursday China’s handling of the local officials who harassed and abused him and his family will determine whether the country can begin to achieve rule of law.

“If authorities can promptly investigate and prosecute those lawless officials who broke China’s laws, then possibly China can rather quickly move onto the road of rule of law,” Chen told Reuters in an interview.

Chen said the rough treatment of his family and supporters who helped him escape illegal house arrest in Shandong province last month was “entirely against Chinese law” because he was a free person who had already served a jail sentence.

“What was wrong with me going outside?” he said.

Chen said he remained “generally optimistic” about how his case and that of his family would work out — in part because of the intense attention paid to him by American and Chinese people on the Internet.

The 40-year-old Chen escaped Shandong’s Dongshigu village in late April after 19 months of detention at home, taking refuge in the U.S. embassy, where he stayed for six days and sparked a diplomatic crisis between China and the United States.

That crisis was finally defused on Saturday when China allowed Chen to fly to the United States to study at New York University School of Law.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is worried his nephew will be subjected to a revenge show trial by Chinese officials and will work to publicize his plight from New York, a supporter said on Wednesday after meeting Chen.

Chen, who escaped from house arrest last month and sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, arrived in New York with his family on Saturday after China let him leave a hospital to quell a diplomatic rift with the United States.

“He can smell another fake trial is going to happen, and his nephew will face a tremendous revenge,” Bob Fu, the president of Texas-based Christian advocacy group ChinaAid, said after meeting Chen, who is going to study law at New York University.

“He is very concerned, he repeatedly told me that’s going to be his immediate concern, his focus. He will speak up for his nephew, for his other family members and other supporters, who are facing persecution … he will continue to engage from the United States,” Fu said.

Chen’s nephew, Chen Kegui, has been charged with “intentional homicide” and accused of using knives to fend off local officials who burst into his home on April 27, the day after they discovered his uncle had escaped house arrest.

Chen Kegui was denied his family’s choice of defense lawyers on Friday, the latest in a series of moves to deny him legal representation that underscores the hardline stance taken against Chen Guangcheng’s family.

“(Chen’s) appealing for continuing focus and care from the international community,” Fu told Reuters, adding that Chen said the United States had already raised concerns with China about his nephew’s case.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday after China allowed him to leave a hospital in Beijing in a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic rift between the two countries.

Chen’s escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. Embassy was a huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic controversy while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

“I am very gratified to see that the Chinese government has been dealing with the situation with restraint and calm and I hope to see that they continue to open discourse and earn the respect and trust of the people,” Chen, speaking through a translator, told reporters outside a New York University housing building in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.

Chen, one of China’s most prominent dissidents, is going to study as a fellow at the NYU School of Law. Leaning on a crutch, he smiled and waved to a crowd of cheering supporters before speaking to reporters.

A United Airlines plane carrying Chen, his wife and two children, landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey shortly after 6 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Saturday and Chen was the first person taken off the plane. Some passengers said they had been prevented from taking photos during the flight.

Chen was accompanied on the flight by two Chinese-speaking officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and was met at the airport by State Department officials and Jerome Cohen, co-director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at New York University, a State Department official said.

A senior White House official, Ben Rhodes of the National Security Council, praised the diplomacy that allowed Chen to come to the United States.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday after China allowed him to leave a hospital in Beijing in a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic rift between the two countries.

Chen’s escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. Embassy was a huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic controversy while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

“I am very gratified to see that the Chinese government has been dealing with the situation with restraint and calm and I hope to see that they continue to open discourse and earn the respect and trust of the people,” Chen, speaking through a translator, told reporters outside a New York University housing building in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighbourhood.

Chen, one of China’s most prominent dissidents, is going to study as a fellow at the NYU School of Law. Leaning on a crutch, he smiled and waved to a crowd of cheering supporters before speaking to reporters.

A United Airlines plane carrying Chen, his wife and two children, landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey shortly after 6 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Saturday and Chen was the first person taken off the plane. Some passengers said they had been prevented from taking photos during the flight.

Chen was accompanied on the flight by two Chinese-speaking officials from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and was met at the airport by State Department officials and Jerome Cohen, co-director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at New York University, a State Department official said.

A senior White House official, Ben Rhodes of the National Security Council, praised the diplomacy that allowed Chen to come to the United States.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China allowed a blind legal activist, Chen Guangcheng, to leave a hospital in Beijing on Saturday and board a plane bound for the United States, a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic standoff between the two countries.

Chen’s escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. embassy caused huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic rift while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

The U.S. State Department said he was en route to the United States, along with his wife and two children. He boarded a United Airlines flight bound for Newark.

State news agency Xinhua said Chen had applied to study in the United States under legal procedures, in the first official account of Chen’s activities, but made no mention of whether he had left the country. The Foreign Ministry said this month that Chen could apply to study abroad, a move seen as a way of easing Sino-U.S. tensions on human rights.

Chen’s friend, Jiang Tianyong, cited the activist, one of China’s most prominent dissidents, as saying that he and his family obtained their passports at the airport hours before he was due to board a flight.

“I’m obviously very happy,” Jiang said. “When he boards the plane, he can finally say: ‘I’m free’. At the same time, I feel a sense of regret because such a large country like China can’t even tolerate a citizen like him to exist here.”

There was no immediate indication where Chen might pursue his studies, but New York University’s law school has previously offered him a position as a “visiting scholar”.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China allowed a blind legal activist, Chen Guangcheng, to leave a hospital in Beijing on Saturday and board a plane bound for the United States, a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic standoff between the two countries.

Chen’s escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. embassy caused huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic rift while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

There was no initial visual confirmation that Chen was aboard a United Airlines aircraft bound for Newark, but the U.S. State Department said he was en route to the United States, along with his wife and two children.

Chen’s friend, Jiang Tianyong, cited the activist as saying that he and his family obtained their passports at the airport on Saturday after his release from hospital, hours before he was due to board a flight.

“I just spoke to him and he said he was about to board the flight very soon,” Jiang said.

“I’m obviously very happy. When he boards the plane, he can finally say: ‘I’m free’. At the same time, I feel a sense of regret because such a large country like China can’t even tolerate a citizen like him to exist here.”

Jiang said Chen was headed to New York, where the blind activist has been offered a fellowship from New York University.

PYONGYANG (Reuters) – North Korea’s new leader delivered his first major public speech on Sunday as the impoverished state celebrated the centenary of its founder’s birth, calling for a push to “final victory” despite a failed rocket launch two days earlier.

A jowly Kim Jong-un, clad in black and the third of his line to rule North Korea, read monotonously from a script in Pyongyang’s central square after goose-stepping soldiers and sailors showcased the North’s military power in a parade in spring sunshine.

Smiling and joking with generals on a podium after the speech, Kim watched as the country’s missiles paraded past, a reminder that despite Friday’s embarrassing failure to successfully launch a rocket, North Korea packs a punch.

In a move that indicated Kim would stick to the “military-first” policies that have put North Korea on the verge of nuclear-weapons capacity, he lauded respectively his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, as the “founder and the builder of our revolutionary armed forces”.

North Korea is believed to be readying a third nuclear test, based on intelligence satellite images and a past pattern of rocket launches followed by tests.

“Let us move forward to final victory,” the 20-something leader urged tens of thousands of military and civilians as they applauded his more than 20-minute speech, the first time a North Korean leader has delivered a major public set-piece address.

Thousands of goose-stepping soldiers held up colored cards to spell out Kim Jong-un’s name and the words “strong and prosperous”.

PYONGYANG, April 15 (Reuters) – North Korea’s new leader delivered his first major public speech on Sunday as the impoverished state celebrated the centenary of its founder’s birth, and called for a push to “final victory” at a mass military parade in the country’s capital.

A jowly Kim Jong-un, clad in black and the third Kim to rule North Korea, read monotonously from a script in Pyongyang’s central square after goose-stepping soldiers and sailors showcased the North’s military power in spring sunlight.

In a move that indicated Kim would stick to the “military-first” policies that have put North Korea on the verge of nuclear weapons capacity, he lauded his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, as the “founder and the builder of our revolutionary armed forces”.

“Let us move forward to final victory,” the 20-something leader urged tens of thousands of military and civilians as they applauded throughout his more than 20-minute speech.

While its contents were uncontroversial, the speech itself was a big surprise after many years of silence from Kim’s father when he presided over similar events.

Sunday’s celebration followed North Korea’s attempt to launch a long range rocket, which ended in embarrassing failure on Friday.

The youngest Kim to rule the isolated country appears to have little choice but to stick to his father’s playbook of milking the country to develop weapons and blackmail the international community for aid and recognition.

PYONGYANG/SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea said its much hyped long-range rocket launch failed on Friday, in a very rare and embarrassing public admission of failure by the hermit state and a blow for its new young leader who faces international outrage over the attempt.

The isolated North, using the launch to celebrate the 100th birthday of the dead founding president Kim Il-sung and to mark the rise to power of his grandson Kim Jong-un, is now widely expected to press ahead with its third nuclear test to show its military strength.

“The possibility of an additional long-range rocket launch or a nuclear test, as well as a military provocation to strengthen internal solidarity is very high,” a senior South Korean defense ministry official told a parliamentary hearing.

The two Koreas are divided by the world’s most militarized border and remain technically at war after an armistice ended the Korean War in 1953.

The United States and Japan said the rocket, which they claimed was a disguised missile test and the North said was to put a satellite into orbit, crashed into the sea after travelling a much shorter distance than a previous North Korean launch.

Its failure raises questions over the impoverished North’s reclusive leadership which has one of the world’s largest standing armies but cannot feed its people without outside aid, largely from its only powerful backer, China.

“(There is) no question that the failed launch turns speculation toward the ramifications for the leadership in Pyongyang: a fireworks display gone bad on the biggest day of the year,” said Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations.