Korea faces its own war on drugs as crimes and usage spike

Since a drink that was mixed with drugs including meth was recently passed off to students as an energy drink developed by a pharmaceutical company in the country’s most famous district for private cram schools, public awareness over rampant drug ...

Drugs, including meth and ecstasy, enough to supply up to 390,000 people were seized by the prosecution from September last year to March. [YONHAP]

Since a drink that was mixed with drugs including meth was recently passed off to students as an energy drink developed by a pharmaceutical company in the country’s most famous district for private cram schools, public awareness over rampant drug use has skyrocketed.

Korea, once considered a country relatively free of drugs, has seen a spike in drug-related crime.

“Today, drugs have become so cheap you can buy them for the price of a pizza,” Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said during a government meeting in December.

Warning that Korea hasn't been drug-free since 2015, the minister called for a war on drugs.

“People in their 20s and 30s stopped accounting for more than 50 percent of drug cases a while ago,” Han said. “The number of students involved in drug crime has increased five-fold over the last decade.”

Drug-related crime is becoming more sophisticated, including the use of technologies such as cryptocurrency payments to dodge the authorities and the use of drugs as phishing scams.

Criminals are getting younger, with high school students even acting as kingpins while employing adults to do their bidding.

Last May, police arrested five people for selling cannabis they were growing on their own.

Previously, most of the drugs distributed in Korea had been smuggled from overseas.

Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency seized 13.1 kilograms (29 pounds) of cannabis.

The crew was accused of selling 281.7 million won ($225,000) of cannabis.

The cannabis farm, located in Yangpyeong-dong, Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, had been in operation since August 2021.

To avoid being tracked, they created an illegal cryptocurrency website to receive payments from their buyers.

The police explained that the case was “an integration of drugs, the dark web and cryptocurrency,” adding that money laundering also occurred when the cryptocurrency was converted to cash.

Experts point out that drug crime in Korea is both diversifying and growing more frequent.

“Crimes reflect the current easy access to drugs,” said Lim Jun-tae, a police and criminal justice professor at Dongguk University.

One of the spiked drinks labeled ″Mega ADHD″ that was handed to high school students as part of a blackmail scheme [SEOUL GANGNAM POLICE PRECINCT]

The recent drugged drink scheme targeting cram school students in Daechi-dong, Gangnam District, southern Seoul, turned out to be an elaborate phishing scam.

The scammers attempted to blackmail parents of students who consumed the drinks, threatening to report their children to the police if they didn't pay.

Three suspects in China, who are believed to be involved in a Chinese phishing and drug trafficking gang, ordered the manufacture and distribution of the drugged drinks.

The drug lab was in a house in Wonju, Gangwon, only 100 meters away from an elementary school.

One parent was asked to pay 100 million won.

Police so far have apprehended six suspects and have issued arrest warrants for three suspects currently in China.

Drugs were also involved in grooming young girls.

Suwon High Court in February sentenced a man in his 20s to nine years and six months in prison for giving meth to a high school girl and sexually assaulting her from 2019 to 2021.

He lured the girl to leave her house and live with him. The student suffered cerebrovascular problems as a result of the drug use.

Prosecutors on Thursday indicted two people accused of growing cannabis at apartments in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang and selling it online from May 2022 to February this year.

One of the suspects was even living with a pregnant wife at home where the drugs were being cultivated.

Easier access to these drugs is to blame for the rapid surge of drugs involved in crime in Korea.

A person can purchase cannabis or meth in Korea for just 10,000 won to 30,000 won. Transactions take just a few minutes.

According to a drug dealer that the JoongAng Ilbo contacted via Telegram, a gram of cannabis cost 200,000 to 300,000 won, while the same amount of meth cost 600,000 to 700,000 won. The unit prices decreased the more you bought.

“In 2010, one gram of meth cost as much as one million won, but now you can buy it for 100,000 won to 300,000 won if you buy low-quality drugs,” said Lim Sang-hyeon, head of Gyeonggi Drug Rehabilitation Addiction Center.

One gram of cannabis is enough to roll about 10 joints.

The high accessibility of drugs in the country is backed by numbers.

According to the National Police Agency, the number of people busted for trafficking and consuming drugs from online sources has risen every year, from 1,516 in 2018 to 3,092 in 2022.

Drug offenders caught in the country reached an all-time high of 18,395 last year, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said.

Some 2,600 people were nabbed in the first two months of this year alone.

The figure surpassed 10,000 for the first time in 2015. Just seven years later, that number is poised to double.

Some 176.9 kilograms of drugs were seized in the first two months of the year, up 57.4 percent from the same period last year.

Police and prosecutors suspect that there are approximately 550,000 drug users in Korea.

Drug distributors are getting younger thanks to the high payouts.

Suwon District’s Prosecutors’ Office indicted 29 people for trafficking drugs on April 7.

Four were teenagers between the ages of 17 and 19. Between May and June last year, three high school seniors were arrested for selling meth, ecstasy and ketamine.

The high schoolers employed six adults to drop off the drugs to buyers.

Some of the so-called “droppers” were lured by promises of high paychecks of up to 10 million won a month. The authorities say many of them were in debt.

However, drug customers are also getting younger with drugs increasingly delivered to buyers through social media, especially Telegram, reducing the possibility of interaction with drug dealers.

One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was shocked after finding out that his daughter, who is still in middle school, had taken drugs.

He said his 14-year-old daughter rushed home one day, frantically looking for water.

After he calmed her down, she said she had mixed meth with water the day before.

Police hand out notices to students alerting them of potential drug crimes in front of a high school in Songpa District, southern Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

On April 10, the government established a special investigation team to crack down on drug crimes.

The team is formed of some 800 people, including prosecutors and police. Suspected drug criminals targeting minors will be detained for investigation by the team and given heavier penalties under the Narcotics Control Act.

“Crimes are now even reaching minors because the issue of drug trafficking is not being dealt with appropriately,” said Yoon Hae-sung, a researcher at the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice.

“Systemic support is needed such as by allowing digital investigations, which have been blocked for invading privacy.”

Others call for appropriate responses to evolving forms of drug crime.

“Seeking cooperation to draw up responsive measures to new forms of crimes that involve drugs is necessary,” said Kim Gi-bum, a forensic professor at Sungkyunkwan University.

“Even governmental ministries need to collaborate with investigative authorities to come up with policies.”

BY KIM JUNG-MIN, KIM HONG-BUM, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]