A country where a woman on drugs crawls the streets

: A woman's meth-related arrest near Suwon Station underscores the rising rate of drug-related crimes in Korea and concerns over weakened enforcement

A young woman who was seen screaming, jumping in place and crawling on all fours near Suwon Station in Gyeonggi on the morning of Wednesday has been booked on drug charges. According to the Suwon police precinct, she tested positive for methamphetamine in a preliminary drug test and admitted to using the drug.

The disturbing scene of a woman crawling through the streets during the morning rush hour should not be dismissed as an isolated act of personal misconduct. Instead, it symbolizes how deeply illegal drugs have spread through Korean society, threatening public safety and health. More troubling is that similar incidents have become increasingly common.

In February, a young woman allegedly drove a sports car while under the influence of the medical anesthetic propofol before plunging over the railing of Banpo Bridge into Hangang Park in Seoul. Korea may not face the scale of the United States' fentanyl crisis, but the trend is alarming.

Drug-related crime has risen sharply since 2021. The number of drug offenders exceeded 20,000 for the first time in 2023 and has remained above that level for three consecutive years.

According to the National Office of Investigation under the National Police Agency, authorities arrested 5,203 suspects and detained 1,039 during a nationwide drug crackdown conducted between March and June.

Nearly four out of every 10 suspects were found to have bought or sold drugs through non-face-to-face online transactions. Drug abuse is no longer confined to a particular group and is affecting teenagers, homemakers and people from all walks of life.

For decades, Korea was regarded as a country largely free of illegal drugs. In 1989, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office established a dedicated narcotics division that systematically investigated trafficking and drug offenses. That system was weakened in 2020 when the Moon Jae-in administration reduced the prosecution's specialized narcotics organization as part of broader criminal justice reforms and limited prosecutors' direct investigative authority to certain drug supply crimes.

The National Police Agency began another intensive drug crackdown on Monday that will continue through December. But beginning in October, prosecutors are expected to withdraw even further from narcotics investigations following legislation -- passed by the Democratic Party —- abolishing their supplementary investigative authority.

Whether the police alone can effectively handle increasingly international drug crimes remains an open question. Korea should not allow institutional changes to undermine the fight against narcotics and risk losing its reputation for strong drug enforcement.

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