The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office building located in Seocho-dong, Seocho District, Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of drug offenders in South Korea surpassed the 20,000 mark for the second consecutive year in 2024, with people in their 20s and 30s accounting for over 60 percent of the total, data showed Sunday.
Last year, a total of 23,022 people were apprehended for drug-related offenses, down 16.6 percent from a record high of 27,611 in 2023, according to the annual drug crime report compiled by the Supreme Prosecutors Office.
The corresponding figures for 2020 and the following year stood at 18,050 and 16,153, respectively, before they surged to 18,395 in 2022 and 27,611 in 2023, setting new records for two years in a row.
drug offenders on the rise
Of those apprehended last year, 60.8 percent were people in their 20s and 30s, up from 54.5 percent in 2023.
The number of foreigners apprehended on drug-related charges also reached a record high of 3,232 people last year, driven partly by a surge in the overall number of foreign residents in the country.
Teenage drug offenders, on the other hand, fell by 56.1 percent from a year earlier to 649 in 2024, the same data showed.
Authorities confiscated 11,173.2 kg of drugs last year, a 17.6 percent spike from the previous year.
(Yonhap)
