Nearly 10,000 Railway Crimes in 5 Years... One in Three Cases Are Sexual Offenses

From 2015 to 2019, nearly 10,000 railway crimes were reported nationwide at train stations and on trains. It is analyzed that one out of every three crimes was a sexual offense. Photo unrelated to the article / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Railway crimes occurring on trains and at railway stations have approached 10,000 cases over the past five years. Among the types of crimes, sexual offenses accounted for the largest proportion.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Railway Special Judicial Police to Assemblyman So Byung-hoon (Democratic Party, Gwangju-si Gap, Gyeonggi Province) of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on the 3rd, a total of 9,650 general railway crimes occurred nationwide from 2015 to 2019.

By crime type, sexual offenses were the most frequent with 3,612 cases, followed by theft with 1,598 cases, injury and assault with 1,309 cases, violations of the Railway Safety Act with 708 cases, murder with 2 cases, robbery with 5 cases, and arson with 13 cases. Other railway crimes classified as miscellaneous totaled 2,408 cases.

Regarding crime locations, 6,130 cases (63.5%) occurred at aboveground locations such as stations, while 3,525 cases (36.5%) occurred inside trains. By time, the period from 6 PM to midnight accounted for the highest proportion with 4,208 cases (43.6%).

A total of 9,810 suspects were apprehended, among whom those aged 50 and above numbered 2,113 (21.5%), and those aged 60 and above numbered 1,980 (20.5%). Regarding suspects' occupations, the majority were unemployed at 3,449 (35.2%), company employees at 2,487 (25.6%), and students at 819 (8.3%). Some suspects were railway workers (52) and military personnel (47) as well.

By railway line, the Gyeongbu Line recorded the highest number of crimes with 1,389 cases, followed by the Gyeongin Line with 526 cases, Honam Line with 220 cases, Jungang Line with 147 cases, Jeolla Line with 131 cases, and Janghang Line with 82 cases.

By station, the ranking of crime hotspots was as follows: Suwon Station with 459 cases, Seoul Station with 410 cases, Busan Station with 307 cases, Yongsan Station with 280 cases, Daejeon Station with 220 cases, and Dongdaegu Station with 182 cases.

Assemblyman So Byung-hoon stated, “While railway crimes are increasing, the number of unsolved cases remains relatively low. It is necessary to reduce blind spots in general railway judicial administration and to strengthen 24-hour patrol activities, among other multifaceted measures.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.