One in 77 Koreans Exposed to Drugs... Enough Money for 6,600 Luxury Gangnam Apartments Circulates in Drug Market [ChwiYakGukga] ⑩

■ Chapter 3. National Economy Shaken by the Drug Economy


33.1 Trillion Won Estimated from Seizures at Retail Prices

Professor Sungsoo Park’s Research: Dark Figure of Drug Crimes 29 Times Higher

Lethal Even in Tiny Amounts: LSD’s R

The potential size of the domestic drug distribution market in South Korea has been estimated to reach 33 trillion won. This is larger than the size of Korea's private education market, which stands at 27 trillion won. This means that more money is forming the underground economy than is being invested in education for the next generation, thus undermining the future of the country. The number of drug offenders in South Korea is estimated to be close to 670,000. This means that one in every 77 people in the country has come into contact with drugs, a statistic that highlights the seriousness of the drug issue.

On May 20, The Asia Business Daily applied Professor Sungsoo Park’s research model—which calculates the dark figure (the rate of hidden crime) in drug-related crimes to be 28.57 times the reported figures—to the average annual volume of drug seizures and retail prices from 2021 to 2025. As a result, the potential size of the domestic drug market was estimated at 33.1208 trillion won. This far exceeds the total amount of private education spending, 27.5 trillion won, as recently announced by the Ministry of Data and Statistics in its “2025 Survey on Private Education Expenses for Elementary, Middle, and High Schools.”

How Was the 33 Trillion Won Drug Market Estimated?

To calculate the scale of drug distribution in South Korea, the prosecution’s drug seizure data was used as the baseline. This is because the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s wastewater-based drug surveys are limited in scope and cannot detect cases where only small amounts are found. For instance, substances such as LSD, which have a single dose of only 100 micrograms (1 microgram = one-millionth of a gram), are not detected by wastewater analysis.

To minimize statistical distortion, all cases where more than 1 kilogram was seized in a single incident were excluded. The fluctuations caused by intensive crackdowns in 2023 were also addressed by averaging the seizure amounts over the past five years. The focus was placed on 10 major drugs: methamphetamine, ketamine, synthetic cannabinoids such as JWH-018, ecstasy (MDMA), LSD, and others.

Retail prices were compiled based on the retail prices cited in 30 court rulings from 2021 to 2025, as well as information from current and former drug dealers, Telegram drug sales channels, and investigative agency estimates. Conservative price figures were applied. Since not all drugs are distributed at the retail level, there is a possibility that the market size may be somewhat overestimated. However, it should be noted that when courts do not know the amount traded, confiscation amounts are calculated based on retail prices for sentencing purposes.

The prosecution’s drug seizure amounts are collected in grams. Accordingly, the price per dose was converted to a price per gram. For example, LSD, which has a hallucinogenic effect 300 times that of methamphetamine, has a single dose of only 100 micrograms. It is distributed in the form of a single sticker for 100,000 won. Assuming all of it is distributed at the retail level, this equates to 1 billion won per gram. For MDMA, one tablet weighs 0.5 grams, and pricing was calculated per gram. The retail price for other drugs was found to range from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand won per gram.

Excluding LSD: About 8 Trillion Won... LSD Use Surges Recently

The most prominent drug is LSD. According to the prosecution, LSD is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless hallucinogen first synthesized in 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann. LSD is dangerous because even a minute oral dose can induce hallucinations. Users may experience sensory distortion, fear, anxiety, and paranoia, which can easily lead to other crimes.

In the figures calculated by the reporting team, LSD accounted for as much as 75.7% of the total market value. Excluding LSD, the market size drops to 8.042 trillion won. This is due to the extremely small dosage required for a “trip” (the term for hallucinogenic effects), typically between 100 and 150 micrograms. Just 1 gram of LSD is enough for 10,000 simultaneous doses. Until 2022, it was rare for more than 50 grams to be seized in a year. However, in 2023, 2,333 grams were seized, followed by 1,804 grams in 2024 and 152 grams last year, showing a sharp increase. The 2023 seizure amount is enough for half the country’s population to take a dose. LSD is an exceptionally dangerous drug by any comparison.

By weight, methamphetamine may appear to be more widely distributed, but when converted to “potential number of doses,” LSD surpasses all other drugs. Not only has it become widely distributed as a so-called “club drug,” but its paper form allows it to be disguised as mail or documents, making it difficult to detect. Professor Park stated, “While not all LSD is distributed at the retail level, it is a fact that a huge quantity has entered and been seized in Korea. Excluding it from calculations just because of its high value would be a distortion.”

"Dark Figure 28.57x... 1 in 77 People Has Used Drugs"

Drug-related crimes are often compared to “the tip of the iceberg.” Unlike violent crimes such as murder or robbery, there is no clear distinction between victim and perpetrator, and these crimes occur clandestinely. In the past, a multiplier of 10 was habitually used to estimate the dark figure for drug crimes.

However, recently, the Ministry of Justice and others have started using a figure of 28.57 times. This is based on the conclusions of Professor Park’s 2016 qualitative research on the measurement of the dark figure in drug-related crimes.

In this research, Professor Park used a model that incorporates weighted values for four different groups: drug offenders, investigative authorities, academics and experts, and medical/rehabilitation professionals. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine the perceived dark figure. The comprehensive result was a predicted multiplier of 28.57. This aligns with the 25 to 30 times dark figure multipliers used by investigative and judicial authorities in the United States, including the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

Last year, 23,403 drug offenders were apprehended in South Korea. Applying the dark figure multiplier, this equates to 668,624 people. This means that one in every 77 people in the country may have already encountered or become addicted to drugs.

"Attempts to Uncover the Underlying Reality... Risk of Underestimation"

Seongsu Park, Professor of Police Science at Semyung University. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The attempt to estimate the size of the drug market is essentially an effort to reveal how much drug crime is hidden beneath the surface, and how much this underground economy is eroding the national economy. This suggests that drugs have evolved from being a problem confined to certain social groups to a “universal threat.”

Regarding attempts to estimate the market size, Professor Park commented, “Without an accurate estimate of the dark figure in drug-related crimes, appropriate policies cannot be developed. Understanding drug crime data and cost estimates is the first step towards developing countermeasures—not only for punishment, but also for treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention.”

He also pointed out the limitations of research on the dark figure. Professor Park said, “It is regrettable that the study relied on qualitative research rather than quantitative verification. Moreover, it does not account for recent issues such as medical drugs or the quantitative expansion of crimes committed through non-face-to-face platforms like Telegram, which means that there is a risk of underestimation.”

He emphasized, “Scientifically estimating the dark figure in drug-related crimes and the actual size of the distribution market is a driving force for fundamental reform in drug management laws and the criminal justice system. Such research is imperative to determine the appropriate scale of medical intervention and restorative justice infrastructure.”

Special Reporting Team | Jang Heejun, Oh Jieun, Park Hosu, Lee Jiye, Park Jaehyun Reporters

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