| The Ministry of Justice building in Gacheon, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times file |
By Lee Hyo-jin
The Ministry of Justice has vowed stern punishment of foreign nationals charged with drug crimes here.
It announced Thursday the launch of an intensive crackdown in the coming weeks on people of foreign nationality involved in drug crimes, amid an increasing number of drug-related crimes here.
Under a “one-strike policy,” those who are caught for drug-related offenses ― regardless of the severity of the crime ― may face criminal charges, deportation and even a permanent re-entry ban.
Such tough measures align with the government's full-fledged efforts to win the self-declared “war on drugs” as the nation grapples with an unprecedented scale of drug offenses. A total of 4,124 individuals were charged with drug crimes in the first quarter of this year, a 34 percent jump from the same period last year, according to data from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
The number of foreign nationals charged with drug offenses has seen a steady increase from 1,092 in 2019 to 1,466 in 2020, 1,673 in 2021 and 1,757 in 2022, according to data from the National Police Agency.
On May 22, the police apprehended an Egyptian national in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, for alleged possession of a cannabis cookie.
On Wednesday, the Incheon Metropolitan Police said it recently arrested a 40-something Thai national who was allegedly in charge of a large-scale drug trafficking crime ring, involving 82 other Thai nationals, some of whom were found to be undocumented. They are suspected of having smuggled nearly 2,000 tablets of “yaba,” a drug containing a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine, from January 2022 to May this year.
The ministry also said it would crack down on undocumented migrants following a record-high number of foreigners overstaying their visas.
According to the latest data from the justice ministry, there were 417,852 undocumented foreign nationals as of April, accounting for 17.8 percent of the total number of foreign nationals in Korea which stands at 2,354,038.
After exceeding 400,000 for the first time in September last year, the number of undocumented migrants has been hovering around 410,000 in recent months, posing a serious concern for immigration authorities.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government refrained from taking harsh action against those overstaying their visas in an effort to prevent and manage the spread of the coronavirus. However, the continuous increase in the number of undocumented foreigners has led the authorities to return to a hardline stance.
This is the second extensive crackdown on undocumented migrants carried out this year. During a two-month crackdown conducted in March through April, the authorities caught a total of 7,578 undocumented migrants. Of them, 6,863 were deported or ordered to leave the country, while 208 were fined and others have been placed under investigation.
The justice ministry will conduct the new round of crackdowns from June 12 through July 31, jointly with the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, as well as the Korea Coast Guard.