Police arrest 6,889 for crimes affecting daily life over 11-day holiday period

A staged image depicting domestic violence [Getty Images Bank]
A staged image depicting domestic violence [Getty Images Bank]

Domestic violence reports filed with police during this year's Chuseok holiday averaged 1,294 cases per day — up 42.4 percent from the daily norm — according to preliminary figures released Sunday.

The Korean National Police Agency said the figures, compiled over the 11-day period from Sept. 17 through Sunday as part of its "Chuseok Holiday Comprehensive Public Safety Plan," showed a sharp rise from the year's daily average of 908.9 domestic violence reports. The holiday figure also exceeded last year's Chuseok daily average of 1,145.3 cases by 13 percent.

Reports of dating violence rose 16.4 percent, from a daily average of 305.8 to 356 cases, while stalking reports edged up 0.6 percent, from 154 to 154.7. Child abuse reports, however, fell 12.4 percent, from 120.7 to 105.7 cases per day.

Police said the increase in relationship-based crime reports relative to normal levels was smaller than during last year's Chuseok. However, the actual daily average number of domestic violence and stalking reports during the holiday was higher than a year ago.

Overall emergency calls to the 112 hotline during the holiday ran 4.3 percent above this year's daily average, though crime-related calls were down 2.2 percent and traffic-related calls down 1.2 percent.

Police deployed an average of 25,805 officers per day during the holiday period. Before the holiday began, officers conducted welfare checks on 31,605 victims of relationship-based crimes and shared information on 9,055 high-risk individuals with officers in the field. Police also inspected 53,516 vulnerable locations, including traditional markets, train stations, bus terminals and areas with high concentrations of single-person households.

Officers responded to a range of incidents in the field. In Seo-gu, Gwangju, on Wednesday, police on joint patrol with a neighborhood watch group accompanied women returning home alone, escorting them to their front doors as part of a safe-return service. In Incheon on Friday, officers tracked down and arrested a suspect who had threatened a neighboring mother and daughter with a bladed weapon and fled, apprehending him in about an hour.

Over the course of the operation, police arrested 6,889 people — 141 of them held in detention — on charges including robbery, theft and street violence. Officers also located all 4,499 individuals reported missing during the period.

"Even after the holiday ends, we will proactively monitor crime and accident risks in people's daily lives and focus our efforts on establishing public safety to protect the peace of everyday life," a Korean National Police Agency official said.


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