LAX NARCOTIC CONTROL

Korea's Status As Drug-Free Country Is in Danger

It is alarming enough that Korea has been used as an intermediate base
for an international drug trafficking ring involving Taliban insurgents.

Even more shocking was none of the nation's intelligence and law
enforcement agencies had known it until they were given a tip by the
Pakistani government.

The loose narcotic control stemming from equally lax immigration and
customs checkup systems as well as the recent surge in the number of
drug users in this country could deprive Seoul of its reputation as a
drug-free country.

According to reports, up to 50 tons of acetic anhydride, a key
material for heroin, seem to have been smuggled from Japan, Singapore
or other manufacturing countries to Afghanistan via Korea since April
2007. If the additional 12 tons of had reached the hands of their
buyers to push up the total to 62 tons, it would have been enough to
produce heroin worth $12 billion, the police said.

A Taliban spokesman denied their involvement in an interview with The
Korea Times, but there appears to be too much circumstantial evidence
to accept the denial on face value. For most Koreans still vividly
remembering the two-month-long nightmare of hostage incidents in the
South Asian country last year, which ended amid rumors of Seoul paying
an unspecified amount of cash to the radical terrorist group, these
recent reports are like rubbing salt in the wounds.

Korea has been regarded as a drug-free country, where less than 10 out
of 100,000 people use narcotics. This is beginning to change, as the
number of drug-related crimes here soared from 7,711 in 2006 to 10,649
last year. The recent surge in drug users and traffickers is another
reminder that Korea is emerging as a drug "distribution base."

It also has long enjoyed the reputation as a country with good
security. The latest incident shows, however, even that may be in
danger, as the Ministry of Justice and the National Intelligence
Service had been left unaware that the country was being used as a
pipeline for internationally restricted materials.

If the drug traffickers can move into and out of this country with
little to fear, the days will be numbered - or have already come -
when terrorists will also do so. The report that the Taliban is mainly
targeting countries that have sent their troops to Afghanistan is only
deepening ordinary Koreans' concerns further.

There are even suspicions among many of a link between the seeming
dereliction of duty by the state intelligence agency with its
resumption of domestic controls on anti-government demonstrators amid
the protracted candlelit protests. Likewise, some think the Justice
Ministry may be too busy investigating the background of rally
organizers to focus on their original duty of protecting the people
from external threats.

Korea has been joining the U.S.-led war on terror abroad, but it seems
to be time for Seoul turn its attention inwardly, too.