Seoul police set up foreigner-specializing squads

SEOUL, Feb. 7 (Yonhap) -- The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Sunday it has
set up five special squads tasked to handle crimes committed by foreigners ahead
of a G-20 summit to be held in the South Korean capital later this year.
The squads will handle crimes committed by foreign visitors during the G-20
meeting in November as well as those committed by foreign residents in Seoul.
Such crimes are on the rise with more mixed-race marriages and immigrations to
South Korea, the police said.
"We have realized it would be difficult to efficiently deal with international
crimes during the (G-20) summit with our current external affairs investigation
system," the Seoul police said in a press release.
The squads will be split each into three to four smaller teams mainly to
investigate illegal trafficking of drugs and weapons into the country, the
release said.
The November summit will draw leaders from the world's 20 major economies. It
aims to deal with various economic and financial issues facing the world and
build consensus among participants.
South Korea has traditionally had a low number of foreign residents and
mixed-race families, but the country began to see a surge in both in the 1990s as
more of the country's men, typically from rural areas, turned to Southeast Asia
and China to find their brides.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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