The number of crimes committed by foreigners in South Korea increased over the past few years, a ruling party lawmaker said Wednesday, with Chinese nationals being responsible for roughly 40 percent of the total.

According to the data compiled by Rep. Kim Jin-tae of the Saenuri Party, the number of crimes involving foreign perpetrators came to 46,994 last year, rising sharply from the 32,364 tallied in 2012. The figure also came to 25,570 in the January-June period of 2016.

By nationality, Chinese citizens were involved in 45.8 percent of all cases of crime involving foreign nationals in 2015, also up from the 43.7 percent posted in 2012.

The data also showed that the number of sexual offenses by foreigners reached 983 in 2015, nearly doubling from the 493 posted in 2012.

Kim said South Korean authorities must come up with solutions to tackle the rising number of crimes, citing the stabbing of an elderly woman by a Chinese man on the country's resort island of Jeju last week. (Yonhap)