More fun from the parliamentary audits, this time from — again! — the National Tax Service, which reported to the National Assembly’s Committee for Strategy and Finance that 82 foreign teachers were caught trying to smuggle drugs like pot and cocaine into Korea since 2006.
The teachers were found with 12,093g of drugs, with a street value of 386 million won.
By year, there were 11 such cases in 2006, 22 in 2007 and 2008, 17 in 2009 and 10 so far in 2010.
Pot was the drug of choice with 47 cases.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
apparently the 47 cases of “pot” was Hemp Clothing – no? either that or I am a bad translator.
You’re a bad translator? Don’t you mean Google Chrome, which translates this
into this
‘종류별로는 대마류가 47건으로 가장 많았고’ basically translates as Robert has it, with something like ‘More specifically,…’ added at the beginning. But, of course, there’s no real need for that when you’re only mentioning the one item.
I like how Google Chrome throws in ‘a gun’. I guess they’ve added illegal importation of firearms to the list.
I know of one German musician which was/is (?) teaching music at a college here that supplies some hard drugs but I don’t believe he was ever caught. I wonder how the authorities would classify a foreign music teacher like him?
The way I see it, they weren’t teachers who smuggled drugs but drug smugglers who got in on teachers’ visas.
No, sounds more like just regular dudes going to teach in Korea that brought a bit of drugs with them for personal use – except for perhaps the cocaine which probably is what jacked those numbers up so high.
What’s that? 16.2 a year, or something like 1.3 a month? Hardly an epidemic. I’d say the boys in blue, or whatever they wear nowadays are either doing a stellar job, or almost everyone is getting through. Or, is this possible? No one from this particular sector of foreign residents is smuggling drugs. Maybe they are too busy uploading porn? Must be doing something bad.
So the stereotypes carry on… What country contributed the most to the drug culture?
What are the comparable numbers for Korean citizens? What are the ratios in each case? I think we all can imagine the answer. The obvious conclusion is that this is yet another example of scapegoating the Other in an effort to stoke a bogus feeling of collective identity.
“No, sounds more like just regular dudes going to teach in Korea that brought a bit of drugs with them for personal use”
Right, because smuggling drugs is what regular dudes do?
#8,
Yes, probably.
@8
The SPO has the data here in their annual drug reports (downloadable PDFs):
http://www.spo.go.kr/user.tdf?a=user.board.BoardApp&c=2001&board_id=drug_board_5&chungcd=01000000&catmenu=100303
Drug Smuggling Charges:
2006: 210 (Total), 34 (Foreigners)
2007: 265 (Total), 48 (Foreigners)
2008: 169 (Total), 63 (Foreigners)
2009: 281 (Total), 61 (Foreigners)
All Drug Related Charges:
2006: 7,709 (Total), 116 (Foreigners)
2007: 10,649 (Total), 298 (Foreigners)
2008: 9,898 (Total), 929 (Foreigners)
2009: 11,875 (Total), 890 (Foreigners)
* These figures are correct to the best of my knowledge, but no one should rely on my data: consult the SPO publications directly. Please post if any errors are noted. Thanks.
The Korea Customs Service also provides data (in English) on “drug seizures” from “foreign offenders” and “foreign instructors” here (pp. 26-27): http://www.scribd.com/doc/32709791/Combat-against-Drug-Smuggling-in-Korea-2009-Korea-Customs-Service
N.B. The same publication also provides information on criminal penalties for drug offenses. The penalties listed for use, possession, cultivation or smuggling of cannabis are very serious — ranging from 1-5 years imprisonment to “Imprisonment for life” and the “Death penalty”. (pp. 10-11)
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