Prosecutors Reapply for Arrest Warrant of Yoo Ah-in on Charges of Habitual Drug Use

On the 18th, the prosecution moved to secure the custody of actor Yoo Ah-in (37, real name Eom Hong-sik), who is accused of habitual drug use.

This comes about four months after the first arrest warrant requested during the police investigation was dismissed by the court in May.

Actor Yoo Ah-in
Photo by Yonhap News

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Violent Crime Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor Shin Jun-ho) filed an arrest warrant for Yoo on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropic substances), obstruction of justice by destroying evidence, and aiding a criminal. Yoo's acquaintance Choi (32) was also subject to an arrest warrant on the same charges.

A prosecution official stated, "Yoo habitually used medical narcotics illegally through so-called 'hospital shopping,' illegally obtained narcotic sleeping pills under other people's names, and traveled abroad in groups with Choi and others to use narcotics."

They added, "We judged this as a serious crime obstructing judicial procedures, as Yoo shared investigation details in real-time with accomplices and associates, destroyed evidence, helped accomplices flee overseas, and coerced or threatened them to retract statements."

According to the prosecution, since 2020, Yoo is accused of habitually purchasing and using medical narcotics such as propofol about 200 times, worth approximately 500 million won, under the pretense of sedation for cosmetic procedures at hospitals around Seoul. He also illegally obtained and used about 1,000 sleeping pills prescribed under other people's names multiple times, and in January, along with Choi and four others, used narcotics such as cocaine and marijuana in the United States.

During the police investigation, an arrest warrant for Yoo was requested once, but the court dismissed it on May 24. After receiving the case on June 9, the prosecution conducted a supplementary investigation for three months and additionally uncovered charges that Yoo instructed an acquaintance to destroy evidence and forced his group to smoke marijuana locally in the U.S.