By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
The number of crimes committed by foreign nationals topped 20,000 for the first time in 2008 in line with the growing foreign resident population and number of visitors.
According to the National Police Agency (NPA), 20,623 non-Koreans were hit with criminal charges ― ranging from murder, robbery and minor crimes ― a sharp rise from 14,524 in 2007.
By type of crime, drug use and frauds made up the lion’s share. Those accused of being involved in drug-related crimes stood at 694, compared with 73 in 2006. Seventy-seven percent of drug-related criminals involved Thai nationals.
The NPA said 85 foreigners were arrested on murder charges last year, up from 54 in 2007. The number of convicted foreign rapists stood at 114, the same as the previous year.
According to the Korea Immigration Service, the number of non-Korean nationals exceeded one million for the first time in August 2007 and the number has been steadily increasing. Some 1.2 million foreigners are living in Korea and 60 percent of them are immigrant workers.
``Due to the recent economic meltdown, many factories are out of business, and workers are not paid properly, which might be a key factor driving foreigners to commit crimes,’’ an official of Korea Migrants Center said. ``However, the situation is the same for immigrant workers and Koreans alike and should not be generalized only for foreigners.’’
Some experts also cited loopholes in the immigration system stemming from deregulation designed to boost tourism and attract more labor.
``The crime rate is much higher for foreigners than for Koreans. For example, the ratio of foreign drug offenders is much higher than that of Koreans,’’ said Park Wan-suk of the Alliance for Coping with Foreign Laborers. ``Under the current system, criminals can re-enter Korea after deportation by changing their names, and it’s actually happening. The related systems should be fixed.’’
The NPA said it would analyze the tendency of expatriate criminals to draw up countermeasures. ``We will centralize drug crackdown systems and implement other measures against crimes by non-Koreans,'' an NPA officer said.
meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr
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