Drug Tip Reward Up to 100 Million Won... Internal Informants Exempt from Criminal Punishment

120% Surge in Drug Offenders Over 5 Years
Prosecutor's Office Also Establishes Account Suspension Regulations

The prosecution is planning to significantly increase the reward for reporting drug crimes or apprehending criminals to 100 million won and to reduce or exempt sentences for insiders who provide information about the organization.

According to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 14th, the prosecution has recently prepared such a system improvement plan to respond to the rapidly increasing drug crimes and to block and prevent additional crimes.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office recently prepared measures to improve the system in response to the rapid spread of drug crimes.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

First, the upper limit of the drug reporting reward, which was previously between 10 million and 50 million won, will be significantly raised to 100 million won. A plan has also been prepared to exceptionally pay more than 100 million won in rewards if the amount of drugs seized or the seriousness of the case is large. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office plans to increase the related budget and improve the system so that rewards of up to 300 million won can be paid in the future.

The scope of recipients eligible for the reporting reward will also be expanded. Previously, rewards were only given to those who reported or apprehended criminals before the crime was 'discovered,' but from now on, rewards can be received even after the crime has been discovered if important information is reported or if a fugitive criminal is apprehended.

As drug crimes have become internationalized and organized, voluntary reporting or tips from insiders are essential to quickly identify criminal organizations, accomplices, and criminal proceeds. However, it was judged that cooperation would be difficult if informants also receive severe punishment, so a 'leniency system' (judicial cooperation offender sentence reduction system) will be introduced to exempt or reduce penalties for those who report internal crimes.

In addition, drug organizations advertise through SNS and receive drug orders from unspecified many people, depositing drug payments into financial accounts. To immediately block the accounts used as means of crime and prevent additional crimes, a system will be newly established to immediately suspend payment of financial accounts used in drug crimes.

According to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the number of drug offenders caught last year was 27,511, a sharp increase of about 120% compared to 12,613 in 2018, five years ago. During the same period, the annual amount of drugs seized increased 2.4 times from 414.6 kg to 998 kg.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office pointed to the generalization of non-face-to-face drug transactions using SNS and the increase in large-scale drug smuggling crimes by international drug organizations as the causes.

In particular, it explained that domestic drug prices are higher than those of neighboring countries, and compared to countries such as China, Singapore, and Vietnam, where the death penalty is imposed most severely, the level of punishment for drugs in Korea is low, making it appear as a 'low-risk, high-profit market' to international drug organizations.

Accordingly, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said it has prepared system improvement measures and stated, "While putting all efforts into investigating drug crimes, we will actively communicate with relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to introduce related systems and promote amendments to related regulations or legislation."