The number of violent crimes that saw a significant drop in the initial years of the pandemic bounced back last year partially on eased social distancing measures, data showed Sunday.
A total of 450,623 violent crimes were reported last year, up 7.4 percent from 419,683 cases the previous year, according to data from the National Police Agency submitted to Rep. Chung Woo-taik of the ruling People Power Party.
The violent crimes include murder, robbery, rape and sexual assault, theft and violence.
The number of such crimes logged 488,288 and 499,010 cases in 2018 and 2019, respectively, before plunging to 467,547 and 419,683 in 2020 and 2021, when social distancing measures were in place.
South Korea first introduced social distancing measures in March 2020, about two months after the initial outbreak.
By the type of crimes, the number of murders fell from 775 cases in 2019 to 720 in 2020 and dove further to 652 in 2021, but it bounced back to 689 last year.
The number of sexual crimes, including rape and assault, also rebounded to pre-pandemic levels with 22,582 cases reported in 2022, up from 20,267 the previous year. The number declined from 23,531 in 2019 to 21,702 in 2020.
The number of arrests for violent crimes last year came to 345,156, up from 324,434 cases the previous year, according to the data.
Source: Yonhap News Agency