S.Korean authorities arrest 33 Vietnamese nationals during drug party bust

Police in South Korea arrested 33 Vietnamese for throwing a drug party on July 3, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.

Twenty-nine of the 33 Vietnamese are residing illegally in South Korea and the remaining four had gained South Korean citizenship.

“The Vietnamese nationals have been detained by the South Korean immigration authorities and deportation procedures are being processed,” Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a regular press meeting on Thursday.

She was commenting on a July 3 announcement by the Busan immigration and police departments that 33 Vietnamese nationals had been arrested for alleged drug abuse and sales.

The Busan officials said the detainees threw a 'drug party' at a karaoke room in Changwon City’s Masanhoewon District the same day.

Hang said the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea has contacted the South Korean National Police Agency to verify the matter and request that they protect the rights of Vietnamese nationals.

Around 5.3 million Vietnamese live in over 130 countries and territories, 80 percent of them in developed countries, according to the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese.

Over 25,000 Vietnamese citizens abroad have been deported since 2018 for violating local laws, the Ministry of Public Security said last month.

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