35,241 Drug Offenders Arrested in the Past 3 Years... The Need for Punishment Emerges

Democratic Party Lawmaker Park Jae-ho's National Assembly Audit Materials

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] As drug offenders continue to increase, there is a growing social demand for strong punishment and crackdowns on drug crimes.

According to the National Assembly inspection data submitted by the National Police Agency to Park Jae-ho (Busan Nam-gu Eul), a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of drug offenders arrested last year was 10,411, a significant increase compared to 8,887 in 2017. This is also a 28.4% increase compared to 8,107 in 2018.

This year, 7,836 people have been arrested as of August, and the number is expected to surpass last year's figures. From 2017 to August of this year, a total of 35,241 drug offenders were arrested, of which 12,560 were suppliers and 22,681 were simple offenders.

The region with the highest number of drug offenders arrested was Gyeonggi-do with a total of 8,958 cases, followed by Seoul with 7,683 cases, and Busan with 3,513 cases. In particular, Seoul saw the largest increase, with nearly 600 more cases last year compared to 2018.

By age group, over the past three years, those in their 30s accounted for the largest number at 8,177, followed by those in their 40s at 8,134, and those in their 20s at 6,986. Notably, minors in their teens also increased annually, reaching 446.

Drug offenders among public officials have also been caught every year. A total of 47 people were arrested, including 21 officials from the Office of Education and the Ministry of Education.

Assemblyman Park Jae-ho said, "Except for medical use, all drugs are illegal in our country, and the number of drug offenders is increasing significantly every year. Since drugs can be easily accessed through various SNS and portal sites, and fraud crimes using drug purchases are rampant, practical measures to eradicate them at an early stage must be prepared."

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