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[tigershark]

Police to crack down on foreign criminals
By Lee Hyo-sik

Police said Sunday they will set up special units tasked to deal with foreign criminals as part of measures to prevent possible terrorist attacks ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit, scheduled for March 26 and 27 in Seoul.

The National Police Agency (NPA) said more officers will be deployed to Itaewon and other areas in and around Seoul where many foreigners reside. They will gather intelligence on foreign gang members and apprehend potential terrorists who may attempt to disrupt the upcoming nuclear summit.

�We will beef up the monitoring of Itaewon and other districts to crack down on organized criminal rings set up by various ethnic groups and to apprehend their members,� an NPA spokesman said.

�We will also strengthen surveillance activities in Ansan and other industrial cities in Gyeonggi Province where many small plants employ tens of thousands of migrant workers.�
To more effectively clamp down on foreign criminals, police plan to set up special investigation teams at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency.

Veteran detectives fluent in Chinese and other foreign languages will be assigned to these special divisions, the spokesman said.

Police also plan to deploy more officers to areas highly populated with foreign nationals at night and on weekends to deter possible criminal activities.

�Foreign gang members tend to be most active after sunset or on weekends when fewer officers are on duty,�� the official said.

Last year, nearly 27,000 foreign nationals committed various crimes, up 19.3 percent from a year earlier. Police say 84 foreign criminals on the wanted list are still at large here, with 50 of them estimated to engage in illicit activities in Itaewon and other districts.

The special team will share information and launch joint clampdowns with an international crime unit ahead of the nuclear security summit, according to the NPA.

The capital is scheduled to host the international gathering, which will draw more than 50 heads of state and representatives from global organizations.

The police are on alert for terrorists who might have sneaked into the country and reside in the areas highly populated with non-Koreans.

�If so, they will likely become active to launch an attack against those participating in the summit. We will do everything we can to stop them,� the official noted.

The number of crimes committed by non-Koreans here has soared over the years in line with the growing number of foreign residents, which has reached close to 1.4 million as of 2011, accounting for about 2.7 percent of the country�s population.

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Watch yo back??

[nathanrutledge]

[radcon]

All the while Korean organized crime continues to be in cahoots with the police in many areas.

[plchron]

i think the itaewon area they are talking about is the alley after hooker hill where a bunch of muslims congregate. Don't worry OP, the red light part of itaewon isn't going anywhere.

[diver]

I like how they acknowledge that they know that foreign criminals operate when fewer police officers are on duty - how about changing your scheduling?

[thurst]

umm...thats pretty much what they're doing. "crackdown" just means more officers on the beat.

[ThingsComeAround]

brass probably wants to show cops doing something... the new hit movie out is Nameless Gangster

[ED209]

[tigershark]

I terrorize the dance floor.

[pkang0202]

[diver]

[fosterman]

hahahahah , 'maybe if itaewon gets a bad reputation as a dirty, dangerous place only frequented by dirty foreigners, the koreans might leave again and it can go back to our little dirty hole in seoul again.

We don't want Itaewon cleaned up and turned into Rappogi..

[smurfystew]

More on this story over at the blog - http://www.asiapundits.com/regions/korea/seoul-police-to-crackdown-on-foreign-gangsters-and-potential-terrorists/

[orosee]

[tachileik]

hahaha it's interesting how immigrant populations are somehow always the ones responsible for all crime, basically everywhere. An amazing phenomenon.