An investigator shows bags of methamphetamine, which are part of the 112 kilograms of the drug that the police confiscated, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Oct. 15, 2018. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign drug dealers are gaining a presence in South Korea, once referred to as a drug-free country.
A research institute at the Korean National Police University reported that drug crimes involving foreigners jumped from 359 cases in 2012 to 2,335 last year.
The nationalities of foreign drug dealers have also diversified, rising from 31 countries in 2012 to 71 countries in 2021.
In 2012, 61.8 percent of drug crimes involving foreigners had to do with drug abuse. Only 5.8 percent involved drug trafficking.
In 2021, the proportion of drug abuse had gone down to 44.7 percent, while drug trafficking had increased to 20.5 percent.
“Illegal immigrants are smuggling drugs from their home countries to sell them or abuse them with people from the same nationality,” the police said.
Current law stipulates that drug abuse will be subject to up to 10 years in prison or 100 million won (US$70,520) in fines. Manufacturing or distributing of drugs will be subject to life in prison or up to 5 years in prison, respectively.
However, among 4,747 drug crime trials last year, 44 percent (2,089 cases) ended up in probation. Only 4.3 percent (205 cases) resulted in a fine.
Even when the accused was sentenced to prison, they were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison in only 20 cases (0.4 percent).
Close to one-third of the accused were sentenced to one to three years in prison, followed by 9.8 percent (463 cases) who were sentenced to less than one year in prison.
The prosecution also remained passive on indictment. Only 33.2 percent of all 18,695 drug crimes dealt with by the prosecution resulted in trials.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
