Anti-Drug Policies Include Some Preventive Education

Starting in 2003, elementary, middle and high schools nationwide will be provided preventive education on drugs for at least two hours per semester, the government said Thursday. The initiative is part of counter-drug measures drawn up in a forum on management and control of narcotics. Prime Minister Lee Han-dong presided over the forum.

Probation for inmates convicted of drug-related charges will be allowed on the condition that they undergo treatment. A national commission on drug prevention will be established and will be chaired by Kim Ho-shik, minister of government policy coordination.

Drug searches at airports, ports and post offices will be stepped up; each day all of the luggage on board one randomly selected plane arriving at Incheon International Airport will be searched.

"About 10,300 drug-related crimes were prosecuted last year," an official at the prime minister's office said, "That is more than twice as many as in 1990, when there were 4,200."

There are an estimated 300,000 drug addicts in South Korea.

by Choi ik-jae