The number of illegal drug-related forensic analysis requests received by the National Forensic Service in the first four months of this year was up over 30 percent from a year earlier, local media reported Wednesday.

Citing a senior researcher of the state-run crime lab, Kookmin Ilbo reported that from January to April the NFS received a total of 24,242 such cases, including drug screenings and post-mortem narcotics tests.

This marks an increase of 33.8 percent from the corresponding period in 2022, when it received 18,253 such cases.

The growing demand for forensic drug tests comes amid heightened warnings about drug-related crimes in a country once considered to be drug-free.

In April, the government formed a special task force of some 840 officials from the prosecution, police and customs office tasked with stopping the “rapid” spread of drugs here.

The NFS data from the Kookmin Ilbo report suggests the country’s battle against illegal drugs should focus on new forms of drugs that are more difficult to detect.

While detection of methamphetamine and cannabis doubled from 2017 to 2021, synthetic cannabinoids jumped 121 times, from just four to 484.

Last year, the NFS detected illicit drugs in 42 percent of the requested cases. In 27 percent of the requests, the detected substance was a "new" drug.