The Chosun Ilbo is reporting that the overall crime rate for foreigners in the country has been on the rise:

According to statistics announced by the National Police Agency on Friday, foreigners committed 9,103 crimes last year, an increase of a massive 48.2 percent from the 6,144 crimes committed the previous year. Crimes by foreigners have doubled in two years from the 5,221 crimes committed in 2002. The biggest increase was in nonviolent crimes such as fraud and document forgery, more than doubling from 834 incidents in 2003 to 1,965 in 2004. But murders also nearly doubled from 32 to 60, and drug offenses grew from 120 to 218 - increases of 87 and 82 percent.

The sudden jump is being attributed to a growth in the number of illegal immigrants. The blind spot in police control appears to be getting larger. In late 2002, there were about 289,000 illegal foreign residents in Korea, but following measures to legalize some of them in the fall of 2003, the number dropped to about 138,000. Despite a plan to reduce them to fewer than 100,000, however, their number rose again last year, reaching 188,000 by the end of the year, an increase of 50,000.

I did the math on these statistics and determined these results:

Percentages of Foreign Crime

Total Crime in 2004 - 9103 crimes

Murder - .66% (60 total)

Document Forgery - 21.5% (1965 total)

Drug Offenses - 2.4% (218 total)

Other Crimes - 75.4% (6860 total)

So the vast majority of foreign crime is not listed in the article. I would think it is safe to assume most of these crimes are probably traffic violations. As far as document forgery that is to expected with illegal immigrants wanting to gain residency here. Now what I wonder is how the murder rate which is less than 1% and the drug offense rate at 2.4% compare to the Korean rates for these crimes. Now that would of made this article much more interesting and legitimate.

Fortunately the USFK crime rate has dropped overall:

But rising anti-Americanism in Korea in the wake of the Iraq War as well as a special law against prostitution has meant that crimes committed by U.S. soldiers in Korea greatly decreased. Prosecutions for crimes like grand larceny and burglary involving U.S. soldiers, the families of U.S. soldiers and U.S. military civilians went down from 83 in 2003 to 59 last year. Special crimes like traffic offenses and sexual assaults also decreased from 98 in 2003 to 57 in 2004.

That drop is likely due to more stringent USFK force protection in response to rising terror threats after last year’s deployment of men from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division to Iraq. Another reason is better crime prevention education for U.S. forces in response to growing anti-American feelings in the wake of a June 2002 accident in which two middle school girls were crushed to death by a USFK armored vehicle.

The most obvious reason for the drop is of course the overall decrease in forces in the peninsula. The other main reason is the change in the driving policy. With only E7’s and up being allowed to drive in the non-Area 1 units that means less people getting into traffic violations. According to my prior math traffic violations is the vast majority of the crime. Plus now with more restrictions on the soldiers more soldiers are staying on post which means less interaction with the general Korean population thus causing less possibilities for incidents to occur. But I can’t help but think according to these statistics that USFK committed a total of 116 crimes. Now there is currently about 32,000 soldiers here after the 2nd Brigade deployment and then you add in family members and contractors and you probably have at least over 50,000 USFK personnel here (somebody help me if they know the actual number). So 116 crimes out of 50,000 is a really low crime rate.

Something that bugs me is the implied idea in the article that the accident in 2002 tragically killing the two girls was a crime. We do not receive crime prevention education in USFK because of the accident. The accident was not a crime but just that an accident. We receive more extensive driver’s training and safety classes in response to the accident not crime prevention briefings. Crime prevention briefings are given to reduce crimes like sexual assault, alcohol related incidents, and theft which the leadership really works hard to reduce.

In response to this article I decided to locate Korean crime statistics. On the web I found this report on Korean crime data up to 1998. According to this report there was a total of 2,010,814 Korean people arrested for crimes in 1998. I divided this number by the Korean population of 48 million and determined that 4% of the Korean population are the ones committing crimes. By using the data in the report it is safe to assume the total crime number is much higher in 2004 with the continual increase in crime in Korea over the years. I then divided the 9103 total crimes committed by foreigners in the Chosun article by the total number of foreigners in the country which is 420,000 according to the Korea Times. By doing this I determined that 2.17% of foreigners are committing crimes. Lower than the Korean number.

Also during my search for data I came upon this report from the State Department travel information site:

SAFETY AND SECURITY: In recent years, the U.S. Embassy and U.S. military installations throughout the Republic of Korea have taken steps to increase security at all facilities. The dispatch of Korean troops to Iraq raises the potential for terrorist and violent actions against Korean and US government facilities and personnel in Korea. Moreover, the Department of State remains concerned by indications that al-Qaida continues to prepare to strike US interests both domestically and overseas. Terrorist actions may include suicide operations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings. These may involve aviation and other transportation and maritime interests, and may include conventional weapons, such as explosive devices. Terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets. These may include facilities where US citizens and other foreigners congregate or visit, including residential areas, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels, and public areas. U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea should review their own personal security practices, be alert to any unusual activity around their homes or businesses, and report any significant incidents to local police (tel: 112).

Several demonstrations occurred in 2004 with participants protesting either for or against labor accords, the impeachment of the Korean President, the war in Iraq and the Republic of Korea’s decision to send troops to Iraq. While political, labor, and student demonstrations and marches have on occasion become confrontational and/or violent, the majority of these demonstrations were not violent in nature. Nevertheless, American citizens in the Republic of Korea can minimize personal risks to themselves and their property by exercising caution and avoiding areas in which demonstrations are being held, as well as by avoiding confrontation with protestors.

CRIME: Although the crime rate in the Republic of Korea is low, there is a higher incidence of pickpocketing, purse snatching, assaults, hotel room burglaries, and residential crime in major metropolitan areas, such as Seoul and Busan, than elsewhere in Korea. U.S. citizens are more likely to be targeted in known tourist areas, like Itaewon and other large market areas. Incidents of rape have been reported in popular nightlife districts in Seoul. Travelers should exercise caution when traveling alone at night and should use only legitimate taxis, such as black-colored cabs, or public transportation. Travelers may reduce the likelihood of encountering incidents of crime by exercising the same type of security precautions they would take when visiting any large city in the United States.

If you have never been to Korea before you would think this place had suicide bombers on every street corner and rapists hiding in every alleyway after reading this. The point is that I’m not about to hide on camp from the Koreans after reading this and Koreans shouldn’t run in fear when seeing a foreigner after reading the Chosun article. I know Korea is an extremely safe country and is something I really appreciate about the country. On the same note Koreans shouldn’t stereotype foreigners as a bunch of criminals. Statistics are easy to interpret to justify whatever you want them to. Each post does not provide quantitative comparable statistics of the actual reality on the ground. I prefer to deal with reality before jumping to conclusions.

For a funnier take on foreigner crime read this classic post from the Party Pooper.

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