The number of crimes reported to police in the first half of this year declined 4.5 percent from a year earlier to 1,277,872 cases, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
The figure, which excludes traffic accidents involving professional negligence, marked the second straight decline for the January-June period, having fallen last year for the first time in eight years.
The number of serious crimes reported -- murder, theft, arson, rape, abduction and indecent assault -- also fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier, when it had marked a record high, to 10,972 cases.