Russian diplomats broke traffic laws most frequently

Among foreign missions in Korea, Russian diplomats have broken traffic laws most frequently over the past five years, according to a lawmaker.

Citing data from the National Police Agency, Rep. Shim Jae-kwon of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) said vehicles registered with the Russian embassy committed 107 speeding and other traffic offenses during the period.

The Mongolian embassy committed 79 traffic offenses, the United States 51, the United Arab Emirates 36 and China 35.

A total of 838 traffic violations were committed by 111 embassies.

The total amount of penalties imposed on foreign diplomats as a whole reached 51 million won.

The Russians were slapped with the highest amount of fines at 6.6 million won.

But it was the Panamanians who were most negligent in paying, Shim said.

The total amount of unpaid fines exceeding the payment deadline was 990,540 won for the Panamanians, followed by the Mongolians with 721,840 won, Nepalese with 735,280 won, Bangladeshis with 675,520 won and Chinese with 559,080 won.

The MPK lawmaker partly attributed traffic offenses committed by foreign diplomats to their exploitation of diplomatic immunity.

Shim, who serves as the chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to ask foreign missions to faithfully observe local traffic laws. (Yi Whan-woo – The Korea Times)