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Amid growing concerns over drug crimes, lawmakers suggested a bill amendment to allow the police to conduct undercover investigations in drug-related cases.
Rep. Lee Jang-seop of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea proposed a bill revision Wednesday, noting that foreign countries including the United States and Germany have introduced undercover investigation systems to effectively manage drug crimes. Nine other lawmakers of the party signed up for the bill proposal.
Under the current law, undercover investigations are only allowed in digital sex crime investigations against children and adolescents. Undercover investigations are divided into "identity disguised investigations," which use fabricated documents and records to disguise an undercover operator, and "non-disclosure investigations," which hide the undercover operator's police identity during an investigation.
Rep. Lee argued, "In order to preemptively prevent drug crimes and stop the mass production of drugs by criminals, we need to introduce both undercover investigation methods."
Another bill was proposed Thursday pushing for the punishment of people who secretly drug other people's drinks or trick them into consuming spiked drinks.
Rep. Min Hyung-bae of the Democratic Party proposed a law revision that would allow for the imprisonment of a person who spikes drinks or coerces other individuals into consuming such drinks.
The current law allows those who receive, prepare, administer, or provide drugs to minors for profit to be sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for more than 10 years, but the punishment for putting or administering drugs to someone else without their consent is not stipulated.
Lawmaker Min said, "As the crime is serious, strengthened punishment regulations are required."
"The bill revision will allow those who administer or provide drugs against the will of others to be sentenced to more than three years in prison. The basis for treatment for victims who have been drugged without knowing is also included in the amendment," he continued.
