The number of people arrested by South Korean police for smuggling or manufacturing drugs has risen more than 30% this year from a year earlier. Total drug offenders topped 9,500, and police are concentrating investigative resources on tracking suppliers, including overseas smuggling routes and domestic distribution networks. With the drug investigation system reorganized following the launch of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, police said they will also strengthen cooperation with the new agency and other related bodies.
Police arrested 9,530 drug offenders from January to August this year, up 5.3% from 9,047 in the same period last year, according to the National Office of Investigation of the Korean National Police Agency on the 5th. Of those, 174 were arrested for manufacturing or smuggling drugs, up 33.8% from 130 a year earlier. Arrests of dealers rose 6.6% to 3,396 from 3,186.
Offenses involving medical narcotics, which have recently emerged as a social problem, also increased. Arrests in that category rose 11.9% to 706 this year from 631 a year earlier. Police said the increase in arrests of manufacturers, smugglers and dealers reflects a shift in investigative focus toward cutting off supply sources, such as overseas smuggling and domestic distribution networks, rather than cracking down on individual users.
Police selected 10 investigation teams for their results in combating drug crime and will award a combined 50 million won ($35,000) in special performance bonuses. The top awards went to the drug crime investigation division of the Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency, which investigated drug kingpin Park Wang-yeol, and the drug crime investigation unit of the Gyeonggi South Provincial Police Agency, which investigated Park's overseas supplier Choi Byung-min. Each team will receive 10 million won.
Police arrested Park's domestic accomplices and traced fund flows including cryptocurrency transactions, while working with related agencies to repatriate Park from the Philippines, where he had been held in custody. Choi was also arrested in Thailand through cooperation with local investigative authorities and repatriated. Investigators subsequently uncovered 41 additional offenses and criminal proceeds worth 6 billion won ($4.2 million), which were placed under preservation for forfeiture before indictment.
Other award recipients included the drug crime investigation unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, which investigated the illegal use of medical narcotics and contributed to regulatory changes such as the designation of etomidate as a controlled substance, and the drug crime investigation unit of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency, which arrested operators of unregistered cryptocurrency brokerage services that laundered drug transaction proceeds.
Police said they will strengthen cooperation on drug crime investigations with the newly launched Serious Crimes Investigation Agency in particular. Many of this year's cases involved uncovering distribution networks, additional offenses and hidden assets through information sharing and joint work with the National Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Korea Customs Service, the National Tax Service, the Financial Services Commission and foreign investigative agencies, and police said they intend to maintain such interagency collaboration after the overhaul of the criminal justice system.
Cooperation with foreign investigative agencies will also expand. Police plan to host the International Conference on Narcotics Investigation (ICON) on Nov. 11 and 12 to strengthen the basis for cross-border cooperation, and to broaden collaboration through the Asian Narcotics Crime Response Agency (ANCRA) working group.
"Changes to the criminal justice system are a turning point for each investigative agency to strengthen its own expertise and improve systems for collaboration," said Hong Seok-ki, head of the National Office of Investigation. "With drug offenses continuing to rise, we will mount an all-out response with related agencies, treating this moment as the golden time for eradicating drug crime."
