Korea Customs Service Commissioner Lee Myeong-ku (center) on Dec. 5 chairs a meeting of a task force to counter narcotics smuggling at the headquarters of Seoul Central Customs in Seoul's Gangnam-gu District. (Korea Customs Service)

By Jeon Misun

The Korea Customs Service (KCS) on Dec. 5 announced measures to crack down harder on narcotics at a meeting of its special task force for drug smuggling.

The KCS said that in the first 10 months of the year, its agents at the border saw 1,032 seizures of narcotics weighing a combined 2,913 kg, up 45% in the number of cases and 384% in weight from the same period last year. Both figures were all-time highs.

Most of the illicit substances were from Southeast Asia, with those from Cambodia and Laos seeing surges. The top smuggling routes were air (505 cases), express cargo (268) and global mail (253).

The KCS conducted joint crackdowns this year with Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the U.S. and Netherlands and will add five countries to the list next year: Cambodia, Laos, Canada, Germany and France. The agency will also set up a Korea desk in each of the 10 states for joint monitoring.

With Cambodia, where transnational crimes such as voice phishing and cyber scams pose a serious problem, Korea plans joint crackdowns through emergency talks. A bilateral customs summit is also scheduled next month.

KCS Commissioner Lee Myeong-ku said, "Most narcotics distributed within Korea are smuggled in from overseas, so we will raise preemptive and systematic interception at the border."

msjeon22@korea.kr