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| Actor Yoo Ah-in, right, enters the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency building in Seoul, Monday, for questioning for his alleged use of illegal drugs. Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
A-list actor Yoo Ah-in appeared before police for questioning, Monday, over his alleged use of illegal drugs. He had tested positive for four drugs: propofol, marijuana, cocaine and ketamine.
Yoo, whose real name is Uhm Hong-sik, entered the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency building in Seoul's Mapo District at about 9:20 a.m., as police summoned him as a suspect.
The police launched an investigation into the 37-year-old actor's drug use after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reported earlier this year that he had been prescribed propofol 73 times in 2021 alone.
Propofol is a prescription drug used to induce anesthesia during medical procedures. Highly frequent prescriptions often lead to suspicion about its use for nonmedical purposes.
Police collected Yoo's hair and urine samples immediately upon his return from the United States on Feb. 5 and sent them to the National Forensic Service for testing.
The hair test yielded positive results for cocaine and ketamine as well as propofol. The urine test returned a positive result for marijuana.
The actor was originally scheduled to appear before police last Friday, but his lawyers requested a postponement, citing that the schedule had already been made public through the media.
"For summons of a suspect, non-disclosure is the norm. But the schedule of Yoo's summons has already been reported in the media," Yoo's lawyers said in a statement, Thursday, a day before the original summons date. "Yoo was not intentionally postponing the schedule. He will cooperate with the investigation as soon as the date of the summons is agreed upon."
In an apparent attempt to get a lighter punishment, such as a fine or a suspended jail term, Yoo hired a dream team of lawyers in the field of illegal drugs, most of whom used to be veteran prosecutors specializing in narcotics investigations.
Sources in legal circles said there could be a good chance of a light punishment if Yoo cooperates with the investigation, considering that he is a first-time offender.
Being well aware of this, police have focused their efforts on securing sufficient evidence in addition to the results of Yoo's hair and urine tests.
"The results of the hair tests are limited to clarifying when a suspect used the drug, as the speed of hair growth varies from person to person," a police officer said asking not to be named.
To secure additional evidence, police raided Yoo's home as well as several hospitals in Seoul's Gangnam and Yongsan districts that allegedly prescribed propofol to him.
Police also conducted a forensic analysis of Yoo's mobile phone and questioned his acquaintances.
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