Crime on Seoul Subway Down 24.8% Over Three Years
Crime on the Seoul subway has fallen 24.8% over the past three years, but sex crimes still account for more than a third of all offenses, according to recent data. Three out of four subway molestation cases were found to have occurred inside subway cars.
According to National Police Agency data on crime occurrences on the Seoul subway, obtained on the 27th by CBS NoCut News through the office of Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Yang Bu-nam of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, crimes handled by the Seoul Metropolitan Subway Police totaled 3,546 in 2023, 2,956 in 2024, and 2,667 last year — a drop of roughly a quarter in three years. However, over the same period, sex crimes fell only 17.5%, from 1,230 to 1,015 cases — 7.3 percentage points below the overall decline rate. As a result, the share of sex crimes among all subway crimes actually rebounded, rising from 34.7% in 2023 and 32.3% in 2024 to 38.1% last year.
The trend has continued this year. Of the 1,722 subway crimes reported between January and August, 612 (35.5%) were sex crimes — still one in three.
The locations of crimes varied distinctly by type: molestation occurred mainly inside subway cars, while illegal filming was concentrated within station premises. Of the 455 molestation cases recorded from January to August this year, 348 (76.5%) took place inside subway cars, compared with 54 (11.9%) on platforms and 53 (11.6%) in station areas. This concentration of molestation inside cars has persisted for years: 75.9% in 2023, 75.4% in 2024, and 77.4% last year occurred inside subway cars — more than three out of four cases within the cramped confines of a train.
Illegal filming showed the opposite pattern. Of the 157 cases of camera-based illegal filming from January to August this year, 85 (54.1%) occurred within station premises, while 51 (32.5%) took place inside subway cars and 21 (13.4%) on platforms.
Theft on the Seoul subway also fell sharply, dropping 52.2% in two years from 885 cases in 2023 to 423 last year. Theft within station premises, however, moved in the opposite direction: after 137 cases in 2023, 138 in 2024, and 113 last year, station-area thefts hit 172 in just the first eight months of this year — 1.5 times last year's full-year figure.
There were arrests during this period as well. In June, a man in his 40s traveled from Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, to Seoul and molested a woman on a subway car near Sindorim Station on Line 1. After tracking him for about two months, the subway police arrested him in August and referred him to prosecutors for detention in September. In August, three people — including a man in his 60s who habitually stole mobile phones from drunk or sleeping passengers at Line 4 stations and a bus transfer center — were handed over to prosecutors. The subway police had tracked them for about four months since May, referring two of them for detention.
Seoul Metro has also responded by designating this month as a special enforcement period for subway sex crimes, concentrating subway security officers in crime-vulnerable areas such as platforms, stairways, and escalators to step up patrols and enforcement.
