According to a report released by the National Forensic Service (NFS) earlier this week, the number of drug tests conducted reached 140,775 last year, the highest on record.
Drug-related busts and the amount of narcotics seized have both risen steadily year after year. The Korea Customs Service (KCS) seized 769 kilograms of drugs in 704 cases in 2023, 787 kilograms in 862 cases in 2024, and 3,381 kilograms in 1,256 cases in 2025.
The tests included 26,350 urine tests, 35,993 hair analyses and 78,432 analyses of confiscated materials such as syringes and drug powders.
The steady increase follows intensified anti-drug crackdowns after a massive sex scandal in 2019 involving several celebrities including Seungri, a former member of K-pop boy band BIGBANG, and expanded enforcement efforts in subsequent years.
The number of cases stood at around 63,000 in 2019 and 65,000 in 2020 before rising to about 127,000 in both 2023 and 2024. While urine and hair tests declined from a year earlier, analyses of confiscated drugs rose sharply from about 54,000 cases in 2024.
The NFS said the increase reflected a shift in focus from identifying drug users to targeting traffickers and supply routes.
Methamphetamine accounted for 52.7 percent of all drugs detected in confiscated materials, making it the most commonly identified substance. New synthetic drugs also accounted for a significant share.
Synthetic cannabis accounted for 15.1 percent of detected substances, while ketamine represented 10.6 percent, with the combined share of emerging synthetic drugs reaching 31.5 percent.
The NFS cautioned that liquid synthetic cannabis products, often disguised as e-cigarette cartridges, were spreading rapidly among teenagers. It also warned of continued cases of acute poisoning and deaths linked to "mixed drug use," in which users consume multiple narcotics simultaneously.
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