New Delhi, May 29 -- A Chinese political dissident is in South Korean custody after making a perilous escape from his country in a small rubber boat, officials and his friend said. It was his fourth known attempt to escape China, a risk he reportedly took hoping to be reunited with his family.

Dong Guangping, 68, was aboard a 3.3-meter (10.8-foot) rubber boat in the waters off a western South Korean island on Monday night when he was detained by South Korea's coast guard for allegedly violating the country's immigration law.

The coast guard sought a warrant to formally arrest him, but a local court on Thursday refused, saying it's "difficult to recognize sufficient grounds and necessity" for his arrest. The coast guard said later Thursd...