Yoo Ain Receives Finalized Suspended One-Year Prison Sentence for Habitual Drug Use

Charged with 181 Instances of Four Types of Narcotics
Sentenced to One Year in Prison and Taken into Custody in First Trial... Sentence Reduced in Appeal
Supreme Court: "Appellate Court Ruling Finalized"

Actor Yoo Ain, who was put on trial on charges of habitual drug use, has received a suspended prison sentence.

Actor Yoo Ain (real name Eom Hongsik), who was indicted on charges of habitual propofol use, is attending the first trial sentencing held on the 3rd at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Ma Yongju) on the 3rd upheld the previous ruling in the appeal trial of Yoo Ain, who was indicted for violating the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropic substances), marijuana use, and incitement. The court finalized the sentence of one year in prison, suspended for two years, along with a fine of 2 million won.

The court stated, "All of the prosecutor's appeals have been dismissed, and the previous ruling, which found the defendant partially guilty and partially not guilty, has been finalized."

Yoo Ain was brought to trial in October 2023 on charges of habitually administering medical propofol and other substances under the pretense of sedation for cosmetic procedures, doing so 181 times between September 2020 and March 2022. The amounts administered were found to be 9,635.7 ml of propofol, 567 mg of midazolam, 11.5 mg of ketamine, and 200 mg of remimazolam.

He was also accused of illegally obtaining and purchasing more than 1,100 sleeping pills under another person's name on 44 occasions between May 2021 and August 2023. In addition, he was charged with smoking marijuana three times in the United States with an acquaintance in January last year and inciting another person to smoke marijuana.

In the first trial on September 1 last year, Yoo Ain was sentenced to one year in prison and was taken into custody in court. The first trial court ruled, "He exploited loopholes in the management methods stipulated by relevant laws, making the nature of the crime particularly serious." The court found him guilty of marijuana use, habitual administration of medical narcotics, and habitual purchase under another person's name, but acquitted him of incitement to use marijuana and destruction of evidence.

However, in February this year, the appellate court reduced the sentence, stating, "Considering that he has spent more than five months in detention reflecting on his actions, and that he has no prior convictions for similar offenses, the sentence imposed by the first trial is deemed excessive." The sentence was reduced to one year in prison, suspended for two years.

The Supreme Court dismissed the prosecutor's appeal and upheld the appellate court's ruling as it was.