'Jeju has a small resident population but a large transient one, creating a distortion'

'Crime rate is not high when measured against the transient population'

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon. [Yonhap]
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon. [Yonhap]

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon said Wednesday that the spread of misinformation about Jeju Island must be stopped.

Writing on his Facebook page that day, Han said the ongoing investigation into a series of disappearances and alleged secret burials on Jeju Island must be pursued rigorously to hold those responsible accountable and prevent a recurrence. At the same time, he said, "we must stop the spread of false information portraying Jeju as a place with unusually high crime or danger."

Han said misunderstandings about the island's crime statistics needed to be cleared up. "When crime rates are tallied by region, Jeju often comes out first in the country every year," he said, adding that "people are already using this as grounds to claim Jeju is crime-ridden and dangerous."

Han said the figure was "a statistical illusion produced by the way crime rates are calculated" and did not show that Jeju was more dangerous than other regions. He explained that the crime rate is calculated as the number of crimes per 100,000 people, using the registered resident population as the denominator and the number of crimes committed in the area as the numerator.

He added that while Jeju's registered resident population is small, the island draws large numbers of tourists from outside the province, and crimes committed by those visitors are counted in the numerator — but the denominator is based on the registered resident population, not the transient population, producing a markedly inflated crime rate. Calculating the rate against the transient population rather than the resident population would yield a different result, he said.

Han said Jeju Island "is not more dangerous or has a higher crime rate than other regions when viewed against the actual transient population."


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