Drug Trafficking Increases 18%
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
The prosecution has set up a branch in the Golden Triangle, the world's biggest drug producing area, as part of efforts to fight increasing international drug trafficking.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced Wednesday its plan to strengthen cooperation with foreign law enforcement authorities to cope with international drug dealings.
According to its recent report, 7,709 people were charged for dealing or taking drugs in Korea last year, up 18.2 percent from a year ago. The amount of seized philopon (methamphetamine) was 21,543 grams, worth 16.2 billion won, up 11.6 percent from 2005.
This year, 2,714 people were charged for drug-related crimes as of April, a 33.2 percent increase from the same period last year.
``Amid changes in international drug supply routes, a growing number of international drug trafficking rings use Korea, which has seen relatively less drug crimes, as a stopover, or hire Koreans as deliverers,'' an official of the prosecutors' office said.
According to the report, only 26 percent of cocaine or philopon that was smuggled into Korea, or 8 kilograms, was for domestic use. The other 74 percent, or 22 kilograms, was for international trafficking, with Korea being used as a stopover point.
Drug smuggling via international postal services has also more than doubled, from 46 known cases in 2005 to 105 in 2006, as many Korean drug dealers who have fled to China and Southeast Asia have joined local drug rings and sent drugs to Korea by post.
The prosecution has therefore decided to strengthen cooperation with foreign authorities.
It established a branch office in the Golden Triangle region, the borderland of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, where most of the world's heroin is produced, and stationed two investigators there. It has dispatched a prosecutor and an investigator at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to better obtain information about the crimes.
The report also showed that 116 foreigners were charged for drug trafficking or drug taking in Korea last year. Among them, 46, or 37.7 percent, were Americans, 11 were Chinese and another 11, Canadians.
``The number of American drug dealers is large because the number of Americans here is large, with more and more Americans coming here to teach English,'' the official said.
Foreign drug traffickers were also shown to be coming from an increasing number of nations since 2005, including Afghanistan, Ireland and the Netherlands, according to the report. Smuggling and dealing in drugs were also seen to be playing a large role in crime in general.