Korea Is No Longer A 'Drug-free Country' And Drug Smuggling Operation 'SIREN'

Cub-reporter  Gu So-hyun

thgus4132@naver.com 

The term Korea is a 'drug-free country' has become an old saying. The United Nations designates a country with less than 20 drug offenders per 100,000 people as a drug-free country. Where once Korea was labeled as such, it lost its status as a 'drug-free country' in 2016 when the rate increased to 25.2 per 100,000 people. The amount of drugs detected by the Korea Customs Service in the first half of 2022 was 238kg, with a total of 372 cases. 

In addition, Since Thailand legalized marijuana on June 22, more people have been purchasing products online that include cannabis ingredients. 

To reduce such cases of drug smuggling, the Korea-Thailand Joint Drug Trafficking Operation 'SIREN' was launched with the Thai National Tax Service from May to August 2022 to detect 35 illegal drugs that could be smuggled into Korea at the same time. Through this operation, it has been confirmed that a joint crackdown between Korea-Thailand has been a very effective means of blocking the drug supply chain. Through the above cases, we need to be alert to drugs that have become readily available and to drugs that are smuggled in to Korea and continue to pay attention to the situation.