FILE PHOTO: Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai (C) leaves the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on December 31, 2020, during a break pending the court's decision on the prosecution's appeal against his bail after he was charged with the new national security law. - AFP
HONG KONG/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump appealed directly to China's Xi Jinping to free jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai when the two leaders met in South Korea last week, according to three people briefed on the talks and a US administration official.
Trump did not discuss a specific deal to free Lai but spoke more broadly about concerns surrounding the 77-year-old publishing mogul's health and well-being after his lengthy trial on national security charges, one of the people said.
