610 Major Overseas Fugitives Including Jeonse Fraud and Drugs 'Don't Move'

610 International Fugitives Selected... Full Effort on Arrest and Repatriation
Three-Stage Management Levels Established... Focused Management on 44 Key Individuals

The police will intensively manage 610 major offenders who committed crimes infringing on public livelihood and fled overseas.

Since the 20th, the National Police Agency has selected 610 important overseas fugitives who committed crimes threatening the peaceful daily lives of citizens, such as jeonse fraud and drugs, and fled abroad, to focus on their arrest and repatriation. They designated a three-tier management rating (core, key, general) based on △nature of the crime △degree of damage △social interest. By management rating, 44 are classified as ‘core,’ the highest priority for arrest and repatriation; 216 as ‘key,’ considered very important cases; and 350 as ‘general,’ other important fugitives.

Dark clouds hang over the Seoul Seodaemun-gu Police Agency building on the 15th, ahead of the announcement of the "Police System Improvement Plan," which includes the establishment of the Police Bureau, a police work organization, and the enactment of command rules by the Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety over the Commissioner of the National Police Agency. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The 44 core-level fugitives fled to a total of 10 countries, with Vietnam accounting for 22.7% (10 people), China 20.4% (9 people), the Philippines 15.9% (7 people), and Thailand 13.6% (6 people), in that order. By crime type, economic crimes such as jeonse fraud were the most common at 36.3% (16 people), followed by cyber gambling at 25% (11 people), drugs at 11.3% (5 people), and industrial technology leakage at 9% (4 people).

Among them were members of an investment fraud criminal organization who deceived victims who suffered losses from stock investments by promising to recover their investment losses and induced them to invest in cryptocurrency, embezzling 50 billion KRW from about 1,000 people.

Also included were the heads of multinational criminal organizations who organized cyber gambling crime groups based overseas in countries like China and Vietnam, operated multiple online gambling sites, and amassed criminal proceeds worth about 5 trillion KRW, as well as the head of an international drug distribution organization who smuggled and sold drugs worth about 5 billion KRW, including 5 kg of philopon and 1.5 kg of ketamine, into the country since 2019, all designated as ‘core’ level.

In particular, the National Police Agency stated that in cases of jeonse and pre-sale fraud, since many victims are socially vulnerable groups such as young adults and low-income citizens and the crimes infringe on the basic right of citizens to housing, 10 cases were selected as the highest priority for arrest regardless of the amount of damage.

Cyber gambling, an addictive crime that wastes citizens’ assets under the pretext of quick riches, was also selected as a core-level target as its users have recently expanded to include teenagers, requiring active police response.

The National Police Agency will focus its cooperation capabilities not only on tracking and arresting overseas fugitives but also on tracing, freezing, and recovering criminal proceeds and damages that have been transferred abroad to protect citizens’ valuable property rights.

To this end, through monthly joint meetings with domestic and international related agencies, the management ratings of major fugitives will be timely readjusted and shared with the National Investigation Headquarters and nationwide wanted offices. If necessary, joint investigation teams will be dispatched to the countries of flight to investigate the fugitives’ overseas hideouts or secure evidence and investigation materials, actively promoting cooperative investigations.

Furthermore, by activating a robust cooperative investigation network established between the Interpol General Secretariat and member countries worldwide through various Interpol operations such as SEAF and HAECHI, the police plan to track fugitives hiding deep abroad to the ends of the earth and repatriate them to Korea.

A National Police Agency official said, “We will intensively manage major overseas fugitives by rating and, based on strong cooperative relationships with domestic and international law enforcement agencies, promote comprehensive international cooperation activities to protect the peaceful daily lives of our citizens and take the lead in eradicating crimes threatening public livelihood.”

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