This study aims to understand violent crimes committed by foreigners and to figure out whether fear towards violence of foreigners and the seriousness of foreign crime are actually based on appropriate evidence. In this study, the definition of violent crime is based on crime classification from the Korean National Police Agency whereby violent crimes are differentiated (e.g., physical assault or battery) from serious 'violent' crimes (e.g., homicide, sexual violence, armed robbery etc.).
The research method can be divided into four sections. The literature review, official crime statistics from the police, interviews and surveys with Korean and non-Korean. Due to systematic change in police crime classification on 2011, the current study used crime statistics from 2011 to 2014. Subsequently, 8 migrant worker and 2 Korean migrant support workers were interviewed in order to obtain qualitative data. Finally, for the survey data collection, a total of 1,792(500 of Korean and 1,292 of non-Korean) were initially invited to fill out the questionnaire. After excluding the incomplete answers, total 1,709 surveys were included for the data analysis.

This study findings can be summarized as follows:

1. Trends and features of foreigners’ violent crime based on police crime data

1- Trends and prence of foreigners’crimes
From 2011 to 2014, physical assaults(31.6%) were the most prently committed crime by foreigners according to the official police data. During the same time period, armed robbery decreased by 0.5%, while sexual crimes and traffic related crimes had increased by 1.6% and 21.9% respectively.

2- Comparison of crime prence between Korean and non-Korean.
From 2011 to 2014, the Korean citizens’ crime rate (per 100,000) was much higher than non-Koreans’ crime rate consistently. In 2011, foreigners were recorded the highest crime rate (1,420 crimes per 100,000 population), while Korean citizens committed 3,524 crimes per 100,000 population. Therefore, the crime rate of Korean citizens was 2.5 times higher than that of foreigners. Furthermore, the crime rate of Korean citizens was approximately 2.9 times higher in 2012 and 2013 respectively, and 2.8 times higher in 2014 than that of foreigners.

3- Prence and features of foreigners’ violent crimes
It is clear that the magnitude of violent crime rate was significantly higher among Korean citizens than that of non-Koreans. From 2011 to 2014, violent crime rate of foreigners were ranged between 53% and 55% of Korean citizens.
In addition, most foreign migrant workers were frequently charged with 'the Act of Punishment of Violence3)’, because two or more persons assaulted victim(s) in many incidents. This characteristic might come from the relative vulnerability of foreigners.

2. Offender and victim characteristics in violent crimes by foreigners

1- Offender characteristics of violent crimes by foreigners
There was no significant difference in the frequency of violent crimes between Koreans and non-Koreans. Victims of foreigners’ physical assaults were usually acquaintances from the same country with the offenders. Violent crimes by foreigners were more likely to be committed by two or more offenders together. Weapons are rarely used during these attacks. Foreigners who had the experience of committing violent crime, revealed that discrimination and abuse against them were the main reasons for the attacks.

2- Characteristic of violent crime victimization among foreigners
Most violent crime victims among foreigners were attacked by coworkers and were likely report that the attacks were due to symbolic violence (discrimination, prejudices etc). Moreover, the victims rarely reported the incidents to the police after the victimization.

3. Factors of violent crimes by foreigners

1- Risk factors of violent crimes by foreigners.
Discrimination and symbolic violence towards foreigners can affect foreign physical assaults. Foreigners tend to think that they endure more discrimination compared to Korean people in both workplaces and everyday circumstances. Therefore, symbolic violence was a significant factor bring violent crimes by foreigners.

2- Preventive factors of violent crimes by foreigners.
Foreigners had a stronger level of cohesion with people, who came from the same country with them in comparison to the cohesion with Korean people. Therefore, by supporting foreigners own international communities and encouraging networking with Korean local communities at the same time, our society might be able to integrate and aid foreigners to settle down in Korea.

4. Foreigners' perception on violence and law

1- Attitudes toward violence between Korean and Foreigners
Foreigners have a tendency to show more passive and negative attitude towards violence, compared to Koreans. They have less acceptability towards 'necessity of violence' and 'effectiveness of violence', and have shown more negative views on violence. However, there was no difference in disciplinary violence between Korean and non-Korean. In general, foreigners tended to accept violence unfavorably compared to Koreans. It can imply that foreigners will be less inclined to accept violent crime than Koreans.

2- Perception on the law between Korean and foreigners
Foreigners also showed the higher level of favorable attitudes toward the law than Koreans. This result can demonstrate the reason why the frequency of foreign crimes is lower than Koreans in the official crime statistics.

5. Discussion to prevent and reduce violent crime by foreigner.

The following policies were suggested to prevent and reduce the violent crimes by foreigners; 1) Improving public security system for foreigners considering the vulnerability of foreigners living in foreign country, 2) A policy that is aimed to reduce symbolic violence - prejudice, discrimination and abusiveness - towards foreigners, 3) Supporting international community to encourage them to have stable connection with people from their own country, 4) Educating and promoting to reduce joint attacks by foreigners, 5) Strict and consistent attitude of police towards alcohol-related violence, 6) Improving the awareness of the law related to the violent crimes among foreigners and 7) Reducing the prejudice and misunderstanding of Koreans towards foreigners.