The National Police Agency (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent report has revealed that the annual average of foreigners suspected of criminal offenses in South Korea has risen to 36,000.
According to data from the National Police Agency presented to the National Assembly during a national audit on Thursday, the number of foreigners arrested for crimes in the five-year period from 2018 to last year totaled 181,162, averaging 36,320 per year. This year, 21,908 foreigners had been detained by the police as of August.
When examining the foreign suspects by the type of crime, violent crimes accounted for 40,280 (22.2 percent), followed by 37,670 (20.9 percent) for traffic offenses; 29,108 (16.2 percent) for crimes related to intelligence, such as fraud, forgery, and embezzlement; 14,489 (8 percent) for theft; and 3,525 (2 percent) for sexual assault. Gambling and vice crimes accounted for 2,280 (1.3 percent), while robbery and murder accounted for 361 (0.2 percent) and 340 (0.2 percent), respectively.
In terms of nationality, Chinese nationals (49.5 percent) made up nearly half of the suspects, followed by Thai (8.4 percent), Vietnamese (7.8 percent), American (4.8 percent), Russian (3.6 percent), and Filipino (1 percent) nationals. The high number of Chinese suspects can be attributed to their significant population in the country.
In June, 82 Thais were apprehended for smuggling a new synthetic drug known as “yaba,” a term in Thai meaning “crazy drug,” and for selling or administering it within the country. In May of this year, a Filipino man in his 30s was arrested for falsely representing himself as the head of an investment company, recruiting over 20 investors through social media, and defrauding them of 1.3 billion won over a two-year period.
Most of the victims were Filipinos residing in South Korea. In Gwangju, ten Vietnamese individuals suspected of gambling managed to escape through the window of a district office in June.
As globalization continues to increase the number of foreigners in the country, it is natural to expect a corresponding increase in foreign-related crimes. Therefore, it is crucial to develop effective countermeasures to address this issue.
Experts have noted that foreign crimes are becoming more diverse, intelligent, and organized, and they recommend strengthening immigration controls and taking strict legal measures against foreign criminals.
Simultaneously, experts stress the importance of Korean language education and policies that promote multicultural inclusion to prevent foreign crime from leading to prejudice and discrimination against foreigners, which can perpetuate a vicious cycle of criminal behavior.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
