Despite a record number of drug offenders last year, only four more police officers dedicated to drug investigations were added to the force.

Summarizing data obtained from the National Police Agency, ruling People Power Party lawmaker Chung Woo-taik said on Friday that the police have 366 drug-crime investigators across provincial, municipal and local police stations nationwide.

After increasing by several dozen annually in past years, the force grew by just four from 362 last year.

Contrastingly, the number of drug offenders apprehended last year jumped 16-point-six percent on-year to hit a record 12-thousand-387, a 53-percent surge from 2018.

With eleven police stations in Seoul housing exclusive narcotics units, a police official explained that there are plans to bolster personnel in hot spots such as Gangnam and Seocho, while the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said drug units will be expanded to all 31 police stations in the city.