Crimes by Illegal Immigrants on the Rise

Crimes committed by foreigners in South Korea have risen steadily in recent years due mainly to a surge in the number of illegal immigrants who are increasingly filling the vacuum in low-paid manual jobs, government figures showed Friday.

The number of crimes committed by foreigners here jumped from 12,821 in 2004 to 13,584 in 2005 and 17,379 in 2006, according to the Justice Ministry statistics released by Rep. Lee Ju-young of the main opposition Grand National Party at a parliamentary session.

Crimes by illegal immigrants surged from 1,999 in 2005 to 3,475 last year, it said. The most common types of crimes involving foreigners were assault, unlicensed driving, fraud and document forgery, it said.

"Violent crimes by foreigners have been increasingly frequent over the past several years. The government has to devise comprehensive measures to crack down on crimes by illegal foreigners, in particular," Lee said.