As South Korea's self-employed bear mounting pressure from the "triple-high" burden of inflation, interest rates and the exchange rate, petty crimes such as thefts under 100,000 won ($70) and dine-and-dash incidents show no signs of slowing.
According to data submitted by the Korean National Police Agency to Rep. Chae Hyeon-il of the Democratic Party of Korea and obtained by The Seoul Economic Daily on Tuesday, petty theft cases involving amounts under 100,000 won preliminarily totaled 74,244 last year. That marks a roughly 40% increase from 53,060 cases in 2020. Ultra-small thefts of under 10,000 won ($7) also surged, reaching 23,403 cases last year, nearly double the 12,991 cases recorded in 2020.
Petty theft is a crime, but when losses amount to just 10,000 to 20,000 won, the time and cost of reporting to police and cooperating with investigations often feel more burdensome than the loss itself. Many self-employed business owners give up on reporting despite being victimized, suggesting the actual scale of theft could be larger than official figures indicate.
Lee, 62, who runs a small cafe in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, recently discovered that a regular customer had secretly taken a 2,000-won cookie from the display while waiting for his coffee order. "I secured CCTV footage, but since the loss is less than 20,000 won, I'm torn over whether to report it," Lee said. "With rising raw material costs already weighing on me, these repeated thefts that are too awkward to report make me want to close up shop."
A, who operates an unmanned store in Seoul's Gwangjin District, said, "Recently, some customers only pretended to scan barcodes and took items without actually paying. I was told it's difficult to prove intent and that it could go to civil litigation, but I can't sue over a few thousand won."
Dine-and-dash cases are also on the rise. According to the National Police Agency, reports of dine-and-dash and fare evasion reached 136,835 last year, an all-time high. Such reports rose steadily from 105,547 in 2020 to 120,818 in 2023 and 129,984 in 2024.
Experts attribute the spread of petty crimes to the prolonged economic downturn and the proliferation of unmanned stores. A growing number of vulnerable people facing financial hardship, combined with the rapid expansion of unmanned stores aimed at cutting labor costs, has left more self-employed owners exposed to small-scale theft. Some also point out that the relatively light penalties for dine-and-dash offenses limit efforts to prevent repeat offenses.
"Beyond survival crimes, the nationwide increase in unmanned stores is also having a significant impact on the rise of petty theft," said Lee Yoon-ho, a professor of police administration at Dongguk University. "Given the limits of police administrative capacity, we need to establish an efficient response system, and self-employed operators running unmanned stores also need to strengthen their security systems."
Rep. Chae said, "Even if the scale of theft is small, the damage felt by small business owners is significant. We need to build a tight social safety net to minimize survival crimes and the damage they cause."
