How often are major crimes committed in South Korea? Police data shows that one violent crime occurs every 54 seconds.

The National Police Agency released a report titled “Occurrence of the Five Major Crimes,” which said that the number of serious crimes -- murder, robbery, rape, theft and battery -- between January and July this year was 339,186.

During the first half of the year, 545 murders were committed -- or once every nine hours, 20 minutes and 24 seconds.

A robbery took place once every six hours, 14 minutes and 24 seconds (1,200 cases), but sexual assaults happened far more frequently, taking place every 25 minutes and 12 seconds (12,234 cases). Theft (162,267 cases) and battery (162,940 cases) occurred every one minute, 53 seconds and one minute, 52 seconds, respectively.

“The frequency of the five major crimes shows how much South Koreans are exposed to danger,” said lawmaker Kim Hyun of the Democratic Party.

By Im Woo-jung, Intern reporter
(iwj@heraldcorp.com)