Teen drug offenders caught in Jan.-July near 80% of 2025 total
The number of teenagers apprehended by police for drug-related offenses in the first seven months of this year reached nearly 80 percent of last year's annual total, a lawmaker said Wednesday, citing data from the Korean National Police Agency. According to the police data released by Rep. Kim Jun-hyuk of the ruling Democratic Party, 370 teenagers were apprehended for drug offenses between…
In the first seven months of 2025, police apprehended nearly 80% of the total number of drug offenders aged 18 and under compared to the entire previous year, according to data released by the Korean National Police Agency. Rep. Kim Jun-hyuk of the ruling Democratic Party reported that 370 teenagers were arrested for drug-related offenses between January and July of this year, which equates to 78.7% of the 470 teenagers caught throughout all of 2024.
The number of teenage drug offenders peaked at 1,066 in 2023 before decreasing to 442 in 2024, only to rise again to 470 in 2024. Overall, the total number of drug offenders increased from 10,626 in 2021 to 12,387 in 2022 and 17,817 in 2023, before dropping to 13,512 in 2024 and 13,353 in 2025. In 2025, 8,426 offenders were apprehended in the first seven months, with students accounting for 63% of these juvenile arrests, numbering 295 as of July.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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