Does the DP really want a gray Seoul?
Published: 04 Dec. 2024, 19:31
KWON HO
The author is a political news reporter of the JoongAng Ilbo.
“If you’re going to San Francisco / Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair,” sang American country singer Scott Mckenzie. San Francisco is associated with many things — year-round warm weather, a free atmosphere that cultivated hippie culture in the 1960s and the Golden Gate Bridge across the San Francisco Bay. It is certainly a city of romance.
I visited the romantic city as a part of the press corps accompanying President Yoon Suk-yeol attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November 2023. Romantic? Actually, it was gray. The sun was glorious and the Golden Gate Bridge was majestic, but the overwhelming atmosphere around the city was gloomy.
“The streets are empty now. Drug addicts have been cleared for the summit. If you go into the alleys a couple blocks away from the big streets, you will find them everywhere.”
Just as a government official explained, I spotted people who even couldn’t control their body in the back streets. They were drug addicts, more specifically fentanyl. At the APEC summit, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to take actions, as China was the largest producer of fentanyl. Recently, President-elect Donald Trump went a step further and warned that he would impose a 10 percent additional tariff on all imports from China until it stops the flow of illegal drugs.
Is Korea safe from the drugs that turned the city of romance into a gray city? Many indicators point in the opposite direction. The number of drug offenders arrested last year was 27,611, up 50 percent from the previous year. Those in their teens and 20s account for a whopping 35 percent. As a parent raising children, I found the “drug drink case” at private academies in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul, last year very concerning and appalling.
At this juncture, the majority Democratic Party (DP) is preparing to pass a budget bill for next year aimed to eliminate expenses for special activities by investigation agencies. “The basis of a drug investigation is infiltration. We approach a seller, buy drugs with personal money and trace them back. These expenses come from the special activity expenses,” said a high-ranking police officer. “It practically tells us not to work.” The Yoon administration is at war with drugs. Drugs didn’t spread all of a sudden. It means that the problem was also serious during the Moon Jae-in administration, when the DP was the governing party. But in November 2022, Rep. Hwang Un-ha, a lawmaker of the DP at the time, said that a crusade against drugs implied an impure intention because drug cases only increased by five times in five years. I wonder if the majority party is generous with drugs. Does the DP really want a gray Seoul?
The author is a political news reporter of the JoongAng Ilbo.
“If you’re going to San Francisco / Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair,” sang American country singer Scott Mckenzie. San Francisco is associated with many things — year-round warm weather, a free atmosphere that cultivated hippie culture in the 1960s and the Golden Gate Bridge across the San Francisco Bay. It is certainly a city of romance.
I visited the romantic city as a part of the press corps accompanying President Yoon Suk-yeol attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November 2023. Romantic? Actually, it was gray. The sun was glorious and the Golden Gate Bridge was majestic, but the overwhelming atmosphere around the city was gloomy.
“The streets are empty now. Drug addicts have been cleared for the summit. If you go into the alleys a couple blocks away from the big streets, you will find them everywhere.”
Just as a government official explained, I spotted people who even couldn’t control their body in the back streets. They were drug addicts, more specifically fentanyl. At the APEC summit, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to take actions, as China was the largest producer of fentanyl. Recently, President-elect Donald Trump went a step further and warned that he would impose a 10 percent additional tariff on all imports from China until it stops the flow of illegal drugs.
Is Korea safe from the drugs that turned the city of romance into a gray city? Many indicators point in the opposite direction. The number of drug offenders arrested last year was 27,611, up 50 percent from the previous year. Those in their teens and 20s account for a whopping 35 percent. As a parent raising children, I found the “drug drink case” at private academies in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul, last year very concerning and appalling.
At this juncture, the majority Democratic Party (DP) is preparing to pass a budget bill for next year aimed to eliminate expenses for special activities by investigation agencies. “The basis of a drug investigation is infiltration. We approach a seller, buy drugs with personal money and trace them back. These expenses come from the special activity expenses,” said a high-ranking police officer. “It practically tells us not to work.” The Yoon administration is at war with drugs. Drugs didn’t spread all of a sudden. It means that the problem was also serious during the Moon Jae-in administration, when the DP was the governing party. But in November 2022, Rep. Hwang Un-ha, a lawmaker of the DP at the time, said that a crusade against drugs implied an impure intention because drug cases only increased by five times in five years. I wonder if the majority party is generous with drugs. Does the DP really want a gray Seoul?
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)