A total of 110 foreign nationals who committed crimes abroad have fled to South Korea, according to police data. China accounted for the largest number of Interpol wanted requests, with 40 people.
Data the Korean National Police Agency submitted to the office of Rep. Kim Joon-hwan of the Democratic Party of Korea showed 110 foreign nationals had fled to South Korea after committing crimes abroad as of the 12th of last month. The data was disclosed on the 8th.
By nationality, Chinese nationals numbered 40, or 36% of the total. Uzbekistan followed with 19, Mongolia with 17 and Vietnam with 13. The rest were mostly nationals of Asian countries including Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand and Japan.
Fraud was the most common charge, involving 47 people. Another 29 faced charges such as violations of the law on protecting children and youth from sexual abuse, abduction, luring and confinement, and prostitution. Seven faced drug charges, while five each were accused of theft, traffic law violations, injury and assault.
The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency arrested a Chinese man early last month and deported him to China. The man, in his 50s, was found to have committed robbery-murder in Tianjin, China, in 1997 before entering South Korea in 2017 and living as an undocumented resident.
When Interpol requests cooperation, the police agency passes the information to the cooperation division of the provincial police agency covering the area where the suspect is believed to be located and moves to make an arrest. After an organizational overhaul this year increased cooperation staff from 22 to 64, the number of foreign criminals arrested in South Korea and deported abroad rose to 24 in January through August this year from 13 last year.
Police said stronger domestic cooperation in investigations is also helping capture Korean fugitives who have fled overseas. The number of Korean criminals repatriated from China stood at 192 last year, remaining in the triple digits annually. Cooperation with Mongolia has also expanded, with 13 fugitives hiding in South Korea sent back to Mongolia this year, and the arrest rate rising 330% from a year earlier.
"Fugitives who committed serious crimes abroad hiding out in South Korea is a problem that directly threatens public safety," Kim said. "We need to increase dedicated Interpol cooperation staff and budget to substantially raise the arrest rate for fugitives."
