When minorities are resposible for all societies woes. Drug Crimes Increase
The article states that that of the 2965 people arrested or booked for drug use or trafficking in the first five months of 2009, 345 were foreign nationals. This marks a 95% increase over last year. The overall increase from last year is 7.6%. Now, apart from the racial breakdown of the foreign offenders there is no mention of the number of Koreans committing these crimes. By the paper’s data that would be 88%, or 2620 Korean drug users and dealers.
Why are the foreigners singled out? Perhaps the respective embassies need to address this. I really hope they lodge official complaints. What would the reaction be if a blanket statement like the one quoted in the article was made about ANY minority in any other OECD country? Come on, Korea! Smarten up!
There is a mention of entertainers buying ecstasy from Japan. Just last week one such entertainer was facing jail time. Last year another group were facing charges. This case seems to have been buried. This might also go a long way to understanding data related to drug crimes in Korea, especially when the emphasis is on foreigners and their habits while downplaying the number of Korean offenders.
Up until a few years ago, Korea also had the lowest incidence of AIDS/HIV in the world. The reason? People were simply not being tested because if they tested positive they would be likely to lose their jobs (or deported in the case of foreigners). More info from a previous post.
The writer’s email is rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
Filed under: Korea Times, human rights | Tagged: Korea Times, drugs in Korea, foreigners and drugs in Korea, AIDS in Korea
