Court Rejects Arrest Warrant for Yoo Ah-in on Charges of Habitual Drug Use

Court: "Substantial Evidence Secured... Some Disputes Remain"

The prosecution attempted to secure the custody of actor Yoo Ah-in (37, real name Eom Hong-sik), who is accused of habitual drug use, but failed.

Actor Yoo Ah-in, who is accused of habitual drug use, is attending a pre-arrest suspect interrogation held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 21st. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

On the 21st, Judge Yoon Jae-nam, head of the warrant review at the Seoul Central District Court, dismissed the arrest warrant requested by the prosecution after Yoo's warrant hearing.

Judge Yoon stated, "A significant portion of the crimes related to propofol use and illegal purchase of sleeping pills, as well as the suspect's own marijuana smoking offenses, are acknowledged, and substantial related evidence has been secured. However, there is room for dispute regarding whether the suspect's actions constitute 'instigation' of marijuana distribution and smoking."

He added, "Regarding the charge of instructing evidence destruction, the suspect admits to telling someone to delete data on a mobile phone in a specific situation, but there is a lack of objective evidence to specify what evidence was deleted. Therefore, it is debatable whether this constitutes evidence destruction or whether the suspect can be seen as having instigated it. Considering the suspect has no prior record of similar crimes and has a fixed residence, it is judged that there is insufficient necessity and reasonableness to detain the suspect at this stage."

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, at hospitals around Seoul under the pretense of sedation for cosmetic procedures. He is also accused of illegally obtaining and using about 1,000 sleeping pills under other people's names multiple times, and in January, along with four acquaintances including Mr. Choi, using narcotics such as cocaine and marijuana in the United States.

The prosecution also requested an arrest warrant for Mr. Choi, but the court dismissed the warrant after holding a hearing together with Yoo on the same day.

Previously, during the police investigation stage, an arrest warrant for Yoo was requested once but was dismissed in May of this year. The prosecution took over Yoo's case in June and, after three months of supplementary investigation, additionally uncovered charges that he instructed acquaintances to destroy evidence and forced marijuana smoking on his companions in the United States.