Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Former BTOB member Ilhoon has recently been released from prison after a court ruled to have his sentence for drug use communted. Previously, Ilhoon was sentenced to two years in prison and a $120k fine following admitting to (along with friends) buying $110k+ in weed across 161 purchases.
Jung Il-hoon, a former member of K-pop boy band BTOB, was released from jail Thursday after an appellate court commuted his previous two-year prison term on a drug conviction to a suspended sentence. The Seoul High Court gave a suspended two-year sentence to the 27-year-old K-pop artist who was indicted in April on charges of buying and smoking marijuana worth 133 million won (US$112,331) on 161 occasions between July 2016 and January 2019. Upon the verdict, Jung was released from jail where he had been serving a two-year term handed down in June by a lower court. The high court also ordered a forfeiture of 120 million won along with 40 hours of drug treatment programs. “The sentence was redetermined in consideration of his family’s strong commitment to guide him as well as his determination, seen during the six-month time in jail, not to commit the crime again,” the court said.
Ilhoon has submitted 87 (eight, seven) letters of apology, which some poked fun at as desperate or whatever, but surely whatever damage to his pride is worth not serving a two-year stint. Do what you gotta.
Anyway, glad for him. Obviously what he did was stupid knowing how drug laws are setup in Korea, but as the court said, he was only a user, so I never cared about this morally as there wasn’t anything really wrong with what he did. It’s actually rather remarkable he was able to function with that much pot on an idol’s schedule. Heroic even.
Hopefully this helps others in the future by setting a precedent, but maybe he just had a good lawyer (and/or was a celeb).
