More sex crimes committed by foreigners

In tandem with a growing number of foreign criminals here, the number of sexual crimes committed by foreigners increases every year, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Citing data from the Ministry of Justice, Rep. Woo Yoon-keun of the main opposition Democratic Party said that the number of sexual crimes by foreign nationals here has tripled over the past eight years.

The figure, which stood at 83 in 2001, increased to 235 in 2007 and 242 in 2008, according to Woo, who is also a member of the judiciary committee at the National Assembly. This year alone, a total of 170 cases have been confirmed as of August.



Of the total 1,289 cases during the past eight years, the most frequent crimes were rape with 600 cases, followed by sexual molestation with 433 and sexual harassment at public places with 109.

The number of sexual abuse against children under 13 and teenagers over the age was 65 and 70, respectively.

While the nation`s average indictment rate for sexual crimes was 45 percent in 2008, the rate for foreigners was 39.7 percent over the past eight years.

"Along with the crime rate of foreigners, the number of sexual crimes committed by them is rapidly increasing," said the lawmaker. "The police and prosecution should punish them strictly, while taking measures for prevention."

According to the 2009 police white paper published in September, a total of 20,623 foreign nationals were arrested last year, up 41.9 percent from 14,524 in the previous year.

In the same period, the total number of crimes committed here was 2,063,737, a 12.4 percent increase from the previous year.

The foreign population permanently residing in Korea exceeded 1 million for the first time in 2007.

(jylee@heraldm.com)



By Lee Ji-yoon