Critics call S. Korea’s drug laws too harsh
Recent crackdown highlights stigma
SEOUL — Lee Sun-kyun, the “Parasite” actor who was found dead on Wednesday, was far from the only celebrity entangled in South Korea’s latest antidrug crackdown.
Yoo Ah-in, an actor known for his roles in the 2018 film “Burning” and the 2021 Netflix series “Hellbound,” is facing trial after testing positive for propofol, marijuana, ketamine, and cocaine, officials say. Several South Korean retailers have cut ties with the actor since the drug accusations became public. He is no longer listed as a cast member for the second season of “Hellbound.”
G-Dragon, the rapper and former member of the K-pop boy group BigBang, had been under investigation for possible drug use until police dropped the case earlier this month after he tested negative on several drug tests. Nevertheless, BMW Korea removed images of him from its online advertisements.
The recent accusations against high-profile entertainers here have highlighted the continuation of a strict antidrug policy and attitudes in South Korea that have drawn a hard line against anything other than total abstinence from drug use.
Some officials hail that toughness as critical to keeping drug use under control. But the policies have also come under criticism from treatment experts who say that authorities focus too much on punishment rather than rehabilitation.
“When you look at data and you look at the harsh penalties that have been in place for decades now, they haven’t worked,” said Gloria Lai, a regional director for the International Drug Policy Consortium, an organization that promotes evidence-based drug policies around the world. “And the cost on people’s lives is huge.”
Since Lee’s death, the police in Incheon, a city west of Seoul, who had questioned him on suspicion of using marijuana and ketamine, have been criticized for their treatment of Lee during the investigation, saying it was disproportionate to the severity of the allegations against him.
Seongcheol Park, Lee’s lawyer, denied the drug charges and accused the police of violating rules about the public release of information. He said Lee had tested negative in multiple drug tests.
Park added that police had intensively investigated the allegations that Lee had used drugs but did not take seriously enough his assertion that he had been the target of blackmail.
“The process was insulting and humiliating to him, even though there was no evidence that he had taken drugs,” Park said in a telephone interview. “While it’s true that drug investigations are necessary, it’s a problem when they go too far and don’t follow procedures and protocols.”