Foreigners' crimes jump 80% from 2012
By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo
The number of foreigners charged with crimes here has jumped by 80 percent over the past four years, police data showed on Sunday.
Nearly 43,700 foreigners were caught last year for involvement in crimes. This was a 79.5 percent hike from 24,300 caught in 2012, according to data released by Rep. Yun Jae-ok of the opposition Liberty Korea Party. The data did not’ show how many were found guilty.
Five major crimes -- rape, sexual harassment, murder, theft and violence -- by foreigners have also increased. Of the five, rape and sexual assault showed the biggest increase of 81 percent, followed by theft (up 79.9 percent), murder (22.9 percent) and violence (20.1 percent).
Jeju Island was the most prone to crimes by foreigners, with the number of foreigners caught on the resort island soaring 295.7 percent. Daejeon was second with a 186.9 percent hike, followed by North Gyeongsang Province with 114.8 percent, Ulsan by 110.5 percent, Gyeonggi Province with 108.2 percent and North Chungcheong Province with 105.5 percent.
By state of origin, Thailand had the biggest increase of 440.1 percent, followed by Russia (240.4 percent), and the Philippines (217.4 percent).
Yun called on police and the foreign ministry to co-operate more closely to reduce crimes by foreigners.
“The National Police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must establish a co-operative investigative system and implement crime prevention education for foreigners,” the lawmaker said in a statement.
“Although the rate of foreigners charged with crimes is noticeably lower than that of Koreans, Koreans still perceive foreign workers as dangerous,” said Choi Yong-shin, a researcher responsible for the report at Korean Institute of Criminology. “The bias and misunderstanding the Koreans have towards the foreigners fosters unnecessary discrimination and interferes with foreigners’ adjustment to Korean society.”