LOL, "Foreigners Outgrowing Policemen."

Statistics show that there aren't enough policemen in the areas heavily populated by foreigners.

Rep. Kim Tae-won of the ruling National Grand Party said that the number of police officers at the foreign affairs department stood at 1,096 nationwide in October. About 1.2 million foreigners are living here.

``Simply put, the number of residents per foreign affairs police officer is 1,073, compared with 504 Koreans per officer nationwide,'' he said. ``We lack police officers who can handle crimes committed by foreign nationals.''

The number of crimes has risen steadily with the foreign population increase, reaching 14,524 in 2007 from 12,657 the previous year. ``The number already reached 16,198 as of October.

Nothing wrong with pointing out facts and figures, but this business of portraying foreigners as exceedingly violent is detestable.

Also more violent crimes are being committed including murder and rape, alongside an increase in drug trafficking.

It's a schoolday so I don't have time to hit the books too hard, but you'll have to remind me how many violent crimes have been committed by foreigners in recent memory. A few come to mind, but it's a distortion to suggest that an increase in violent crime is due to an increase in foreigners. Moreover, while it's trendy to attribute drug trafficking to English teachers, anecdotal evidence suggests ethnic Koreans are playing a much larger role in this.

``We have seen a massive influx of foreigners in recent years. We need more officers to over see them,'' said an official from the Foreign Department at the National Police Agency, who declined to be named.

They plan to open security centers in regions where foreigners established their own districts such as the ethnic Korean-Chinese and Chinese village in Guro, Seoul and a Bangladeshi town in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, he said.

Rising foreigner crime makes the news every now and then. Last year the Chosun Ilbo looked at it, and ran this picture with the article:



ROK Drop looked more closely and saw that the rate of crime by Koreans is of course higher. When you break down the numbers you'll see that the increase in crimes committed by foreigners is related simply to the increase in the number of foreigners. Which was pretty much the point of the Korea Times article, and could have worked fine without the sensationalist headline.