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🇰🇷 South Korea /Elections & Politics

Democrats accuse Jang Dong-hyuk of distorting Jeju crime statistics for political gain

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • The Democratic Party accused People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk of misleading the public by presenting Jeju as South Korea’s most dangerous area based on resident-only crime statistics.
  • Democrats said the figures exclude Jeju’s large visitor population from the denominator, while reported crimes include offenses committed by nonresidents.
  • The party also criticized Jang for raising undocumented Chinese nationals in connection with the case, saying no involvement by foreigners or undocumented migrant workers had been confirmed.

South Korea’s Democratic Party has accused opposition leader Jang Dong-hyuk of using Jeju’s crime statistics to fuel public anxiety after a missing woman was found dead on the island.

Jang, the leader of the People Power Party, said during a visit to the site in Jeju’s Hallim-eup that Jeju had the country’s highest number of crimes per 100,000 people. He also said the island had about 10,700 undocumented residents, 85% of them Chinese, and that Chinese nationals accounted for 70% of foreign suspects.

The People Power Party must not fuel Jeju residents’ anxiety through reckless speculation and distorted statistics.

— Shin Hyun-youngThe Democratic Party spokesperson criticized Jang Dong-hyuk’s comments in a briefing.

Democratic Party spokesperson Shin Hyun-young said the claim relied on the island’s registered population of about 660,000. Jeju recorded 4,193.8 crimes per 100,000 registered residents last year, the highest rate in the country, with 27,880 offenses recorded. But the population figure does not include visitors, while the crime total includes offenses committed by people from outside the island.

Presenting Jeju as if it were the most dangerous region based only on the registered population is clearly a false claim caused by a statistical illusion.

— Shin Hyun-youngShe challenged the use of resident-only figures to describe crime on a tourism-heavy island.

Jeju receives about 13 million visitors a year. Shin said using the island’s “living population,” which includes people staying there for tourism, work or study, would bring its crime rate closer to the national average. She also said Jeju’s rate of serious violent crimes, including murder and robbery, ranks among the lowest nationwide.

Shin further criticized Jang for bringing up undocumented Chinese residents in a case with no confirmed foreign or undocumented migrant-worker involvement. She said the proportion of foreign suspects arrested in Jeju last year was 3.5%, close to Seoul’s 3.42% and below South Gyeonggi’s 4.13%. She called for safety measures rather than political disputes over the family’s grief.

Politics should now prepare effective safety measures so that people can feel secure, rather than increasing anxiety.

— Shin Hyun-youngShe called for a policy response instead of further political controversy over the case.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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