FOREIGN INSTRUCTORS' DRUG OFFENSES UNABATING

The government has introduced several tough measures to counter
foreign English speaking teachers' drug consumption and trafficking,
but they are recurring.

The absolute number of drug offenses by foreigners is a lot less than
Koreans. But what worries government officials is that despite tough
screening for the selection of instructors at schools, they are seeing
native English speaking instructors being arrested for the use of
banned drugs.

A group of foreign drug traffickers including a native English teacher
at a primary school were arrested on Wednesday. Yeonsu Police Station
in Incheon, 40 kilometers southwest of Seoul, said it apprehended a
21-year-old American, identified only as W, and eight other foreign
nationals. Also among the arrested was a foreign English teacher who
worked at a primary school.

They are charged with having distributed cocaine, marijuana and
ecstasy to foreign workers and students here, according to the police,
who added W grew marijuana in his room using flowerpots.

They sold the drugs to foreign instructors and students, the police
said.

The latest roundup comes just several weeks after other foreign
instructors were arrested for drug offenses. In December, a Canadian
instructor at an elementary school in Incheon was arrested for
smuggling marijuana and an American instructor at a school in Suwon
was also arrested for the use of ecstasy.

On Nov. 12, a 23-year-old native English teacher was sentenced to two
and a half year in prison on charge of smuggling drugs through an
international package service.

The National Police Agency (NPA) said more than 11,000 crimes
involving foreign nationals were reported in 2006, up 24 percent from
the previous year's 8,392. The agency said more than 8,800 cases were
uncovered in the first eight months of 2007. The total for the year
has not yet been released.

"Around 2.4 percent of all crimes reported are illegal drug
distribution, consumption and production. And the ratio is on the
increase year after year," a police officer who refused to be named
told The Korea Times. "The actual number involving undetected cases
could be much higher."

According to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, a total of 226
foreigners were arrested on drug charges last year, almost double the
116 reported in 2006.

Chinese nationals made up the largest group with 58 in 2007, followed
by U.S. citizens with 35 and Filipinos with 31.

The Ministry of Justice introduced new visa regulations for language
instructors from Dec. 15 as part of efforts to prevent foreign
nationals with criminal records and health problems from being
employed here at schools and private institutions.

Under the program, foreigners applying for an E-2 Visa _ a must-have
visa for native language teachers in Korea _ are obliged to submit a
criminal background check and health data including HIV-AIDS and
drug-test results.