Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yaya]

In 2010, the data shows, police around the country charged 1.8 million South Koreans with crimes, about 3.8% of the overall population of 48 million. By contrast, 33,586 non-Koreans were charged with crimes, about 2.7% of the country�s foreign population of 1.26 million.

The biggest foreigner group, the approximately 610,000 Chinese people in South Korea, fell right on that average, with a 2.7% crime rate.

The second-biggest group, the 127,000 Americans in the country, had a crime rate of 1.6%.

The third-biggest group � Vietnamese, with 103,000 people in South Korea � stood at 2.6%.

What group of foreigners had the highest crime rate? The approximately 30,000 Mongolians in South Korea, with just over 1,800 charged with a crime in 2010, for a rate of 6%.

And what about Canadians, who supply so many English teachers who seem so often to be criticized in the South Korean media? The 20,435 Canadians in South Korea last year were charged with 401 crimes, for a rate of 2%. More Canadians were busted for driving without a license (30) than for drug offenses (20).

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2011/08/23/foreigner-crime-in-south-korea-the-data/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=koreareblog#

[chungbukdo]

DAMN YOU MONGORIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! always breaking down our sheety wall.

[CentralCali]

I wonder how many of the Chinese citizen criminals are from Yanbian.

[Chris.Quigley]

While I am glad to hear that Canadians had a crime rate of 2% (much of it probably minor crimes) I still wish that the statistic was closer to zero...

When you think about it, that means that 1/50 (on average) Canadians you meet is dumb enough to break the law at some point during their stay in Korea...

Obviously, we are also a more criminal people than Americans... although perhaps many crimes by US soldiers don't show up in the statistics? (I don't know, just saying).

[ajosshi]

[Hiromi C]

US service members are almost certainly underrepresented in those statistics; it specifically says the metric for this study is people charged by "police around the country" (which presumably means Korean police). Most service members are ultimately charged by MPs/SPs, even if they were originally detained by Korean police.

[CentralCali]

You wouldn't happen to have any support for that assertion, would you, Hiromi? Plenty of Servicemembers who get apprehended by Korean police are charged, prosecuted, and punished in the Korean judicial system. A quick perusal of the monthly 8th US Army judicial report would indicate that the military isn't (since it can't) running ramrod over Korea's system.

[Stan Rogers]

The statistic I want to see is about how many Korean "reporters" are still angry after breaking up with their foreigner BF/GF. I sure there are plenty of these poeple floating around who want to take revenge on their X by publicly bashing their X's country.

[r122925]

I must admit I know nothing about crime statistics, so if I am interpreting anything wrong here someone please correct me.

I have to say, while the article makes a big point about the numbers being lower than the rate of Koreans, the numbers still seem quite high to me. 2% for Canada is one of the lowest numbers mentioned. Does that mean 1 out of every 50 Canadians living in Korea was charged with a crime last year? That just doesn't sound right. How many foreigners have I met over the years living in Korea (coworkers, friends, other acquaintances)? probably hundreds. How many do I know that have been charged with a crime? I hear stories on Dave's from time to time but I don't personally know anyone at all. Not a single one. So where is this 2% coming from? and what sort of crimes are they committing??

Also, I don't think it's really fair to compare the rate for Canadian English teachers to the Korean population as a whole. Canadian English teachers are generally middle class, university educated, and relatively mentally stable individuals. The Korean stats are going to include everyone... that means high school dropouts, the mentally ill, and other career-criminals that if they were Canadian would never be issued a visa to come here. I would expect the Canadian number to be much lower.

So am I wrong in thinking that the foreigner crime rate should be much lower than 2%? As ajosshi mentioned, these are only the people being charged. We can probably assume there are quite a few more people who are breaking the law who haven't been caught yet. What's going on here?

edit: I thought of another idea. When it says X number of people were charged with crimes, could it mean the total number of charges and not necessarily the number of people? For example If I was arrested and charged with 8 different offences would I go on the list 8 times? and artificially increase the rate? There's got to be something missing here. I just can't believe that 1 out of 50 Canadians who comes to Korea is charged with a crime before they go home.

[isisaredead]

is a visa violation a crime?

[hojuhanguk]

[Captain Corea]

Something to keep in mind as well are overseas Koreans. They can be from all walks of life, and still come here on an F visa.

So when we say that Canadians (or whathaveyou) are from the middle class and are university educated, we are only talking about E visa holders.

As far as I know, F visa holders are still classified as foreigners and can be added to these statistics.

[chungbukdo]

[GoldMember]

Every major city has an "International Crimes Unit". With an impressive name like that you'd think they'd be investigating, triads, human trafficking, weapons smuggling, working with Interpol etc.
What "International" crimes do they investigate? Teaching private classes! I kid you not.

I've seen police run straight pass cars that are parked illegally and dangerously, street vendors selling dodgy food, people throwing garbage in the street, and then hassle some whitey on a beach, because he's playing a guitar.

[isisaredead]

all i got from the above two posts was: "WAHHH! WAH WAH WAAAAHHH!"

stop playing the victim. if police in any country arrest a foreign person, it's usually for a good reason - no matter how stupid you and your precious sensibilities think it is.

we're not targeted any more than koreans are by the police force. if anything, we probably get away with more.