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Drug Smuggling in Korea on the riSe Korea’s illicit drug trade is at an all-time high, with a record amount of drugs smug- gled into the country in the first half of this year, according to a report released yester- day by the Korea Customs Service. According to the report, law enforcement officials seized 51.8 kilograms of illicit drugs worth 119.5 billion won from Janu- ary through June. The amount was a record high and repre- sented a 61 percent increase compared to the previous period. The number of detect- ed drug-smuggling cases stood at 153, a 20 percent jump from the same period in 2013. The authorities said that methampheta- mine accounted for the largest share (40.4 kilograms) of drugs seized, followed by syn- thetic cannabis (9.2 kilograms) and pure marijuana (1.8 kilograms). The amount of methamphetamine smuggled within the past six months has already surpassed the total for all of 2013. Officials attributed the surge, in part, to one case in which smugglers were caught with a haul of meth that was stored in a cargo ship from China. The shipment con- tained 6.1 kilograms of meth with a street value of 18.3 billion won. The customs office uncovered the case on June 1 in Gohyeon Port in Geoje, South Gyeongsang. It also pointed to the increas- ing use of international mail in delivering illegal drugs, as more Koreans buy illegal substances from foreign websites and have them delivered by regular post straight to their doors. The number o f international parcels that contain drugs increased to 108 during the first half of this year from 74 over the same period last year. Korea has a reputation as a country that is largely free of narcotics, and drug traffick- ing is generally considered a minor concern. However, the nation has seen a rise in drug trafficking cases in recent years. The num- ber of drug-smuggling cases uncovered by the Korea Customs Service rose from 150 in 2009 to 232 in 2012. Acknowledging the recent rise, the agency vowed to root out illicit drug trading. “We will strengthen the monitoring of interna- tional parcels and increase the number of drug-detection dogs at ports and the inter- national airports,” the customs office said. all stories are culled with consent from Korea Joongang Daily’s website and edited by groove Korea for length and clarity. the opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of groove Korea. — ed. n a t i o n a l n e w Swith August 2014 / www.koreajoongangdaily.com man threatenS immolation inSiDe ramaDa hotel A hostess bar owner threatened to commit suicide by setting a fire in a guest room in the Ramada Seoul Hotel in the posh Gang- nam District, and police scrambled to stop him for 11 hours. Around 6 p.m., police were told that a strong smell of gasoline was coming from a seventh floor guest room in the hotel in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul. A 49-year-old man surnamed Park, whose hostess bar in the hotel’s basement had been shut temporarily on grounds of being a den of prostitution, poured 20 liters of gasoline around the hotel room and threat- ened to set himself on fire unless he was taken to meet Moon Byung-wook, chair- man of the Ramada Group, formerly called the Sun and Moon Group. Police negotiators communicated with Park via the phone in the room and cellphone, trying to persuade him to turn himself in. Nearly 200 hotel guests and staff were evacuated from the building. Around 100 firefighters were on standby along with 22 fire trucks, and roads were blocked off to prepare for an emergency scenario. A conflagration was averted when Park fi- nally turned himself in the following morn- ing around 4:50 a.m. He was arrested by police for obstructing the hotel’s business and fire code violations. According to police, Park managed a host- ess bar in the basement of the hotel be- tween 2005 and May 2012, when he was accused of recruiting prostitutes and forced to suspend business for two months. Park continued to run the business even after the lease with the hotel ended in 2012, but he reportedly had difficulty meeting the monthly rent. He eventually became embroiled in a n eviction lawsuit against the hotel, and in February, the court ruled against Park. Ramada Hotel was involved in a crack- down on prostitution from 2005 to 2012, and in January, Chairman Moon was charged with running a prostitution busi- ness that made 7 billion won in profit. In the suit against Moon, Park had been accused of being an accomplice to Moon in running the prostitution business, which took place in his hostess bar and in guest rooms upstairs. He claimed he was not in- volved and was merely a tenant of the hotel. Park told police yesterday that the hotel management told him that if he accepted the court ruling in February, it would pay him compensation and take care of his em- ployees’ overdue wages, “but they did not keep their promise.” www.groovekorea.com / August 2014 28