In 2013 the Korean crime rate was higher than that of foreigners, but...

On February 12, Yonhap published the following article:

Foreign crime rate falls short of Korean rate but murder, robbery rate higher

(Seoul - Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Yuri - It's come out that the crime rate of foreigners living in Korea is lower than the crime rate for Koreans, but their rate of committing murder and robbery is 2.5 times higher.

On the 12th this analysis was shared in the IOM [International Organization for Migration] Migration Research and Training Center's most recent "Issue Brief" titled "Truth and misconceptions about the crime rate of sojourning foreigners," which compares the crime rates of foreigners and Koreans by comparing their population.

According to this, of 1,857,276 crimes committed in total in 2013, Korean crimes amounted to 3,649 crimes per 10,000 people, more than double that of foreigners, which came to 1,585 [per 10,000 people].

The Korean crime rate was higher, and even by type of crime, Koreans, at 48.2 cases per 10,000 people, committed more violent crimes (murder, robbery, rape, etc.) than foreigners (44.2 cases), and also committed more assault crimes (injury, assault, etc.), with 707 cases per 10,000 Koreans compared to 529 for foreigners.

However, if individual crimes are looked at, the foreigner murder rate is 2.5 times higher, the robbery rate is 1.4 times higher, and the assault rate is 1.3 times higher.

By country of origin, Chinese people committed the greatest number of crimes, but this was attributed to their being so many Chinese among foreigners living in Korea.

Contrasting the crime rate by nationality, those with the highest violent crime rates were Pakistan (5.97 times higher than the Korean crime rate), Mongolia (3.86 times higher), Russia (2.92 times higher), Uzbekistan (2.86 times higher), and Sri Lanka (2.66 times higher).

As for rape (including crimes similar to rape) crime rates, Pakistan's was 5.85 times higher than Korea's, Bangladesh was 3.2 times higher, Kyrgyzstan was 2.83 times higher, Sri Lanka was 2.43 times higher, and Mongolia was 1.86 times higher.

The report's diagnosis is that, "In terms of statistics, the foreign crime rate is lower than Koreans,' but since [by type] some violent crimes exceed the Korean rate, there are limits to supporting [the assertion] that the crime rate of foreign nationals is low."

It pointed out that "As the number of foreigners in Korea increases, crimes by foreigners are also steadily rising." "While policies to proactively prevent crimes by foreigners from occurring are required, there is also a need to minimize prejudice against foreign crime." 

The report they speak of can be found here; I don't have time to dig through it, I'm afraid. Since Americans and Canadians aren't at the top of the 'most criminal by nationality' list, it would appear the IOM Migration Research and Training Center has done a better job than the Korean Institute of Criminology did back in 2013, as was related in this series:

From incorrectly calculated foreign crime rates to tabloid TV

Part 1: Incorrect statistics portray Americans and Canadians as more prone to criminality
Part 2: Yonhap reports on the KIC foreign crime study
Part 3: Joongang Ilbo: "Get a Korean woman pregnant": Shock over manual for foreign men
Part 4: JTBC's "We are Detectives" looks at foreign crime using the KIC report
Part 5: JTBC's "We are Detectives" looks at xenophobia and foreign crime
Part 6: For JTBC, consensual sex between white men and Korean women is a "sex crime"

The final post in that series has a classic video, for those who wish to revisit that blast from the past.