The Korea Customs Service (KCS) said Thursday that cases involving teenagers rose from just two in 2022 to 23 in the first 10 months of 2026, an 11.5-fold increase.
The amount of drugs seized in those cases jumped nearly 89-fold, from 54 grams in 2022 to 4.8 kilograms between January and October this year.
Of particular concern is the emergence of cases involving medicines containing controlled substances, which customs officials began detecting last year.
Teenagers have been caught ordering such medicines from overseas websites or obtaining them through illicit transactions with foreign sellers, according to the KCS.
Customs authorities referred six cases involving teenage suspects to prosecutors in 2025, compared with eight in the first 10 months of 2026.
Earlier this year, customs officers intercepted 400 cold medicine tablets containing dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant that can cause mind-altering effects when taken in high doses in a package mailed from the Netherlands, leading to the arrest of a teenager.
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