(Incheon) G-Dragon, star of the K-pop group BIGBANG, proclaimed his innocence Monday to the press gathered outside a police station in Incheon, west of Seoul, where he was questioned in connection with of an investigation for drug use.
The 35-year-old South Korean artist, whose real name is Kwon Ji-yong, who is under police investigation, arrived in a black car, wearing a black suit and rimmed glasses black.
“I have not committed any drug-related crimes,” he told reporters present.
When asked if he wanted to send a message to his fans, he replied: “Don’t worry too much. I’ll be back after the investigation.”
At the end of his interrogation which lasted almost four hours, the singer assured that he had been declared negative for drugs, adding that he had urged another, more in-depth test.
“I actively cooperated with the investigation, whether it was the test or giving a hair sample,” he explained, saying he responded “honestly.”
G-Dragon had already been questioned for cannabis use in 2011 before being released without any charges being brought against him.
He is the latest in a long series of personalities from the entertainment world to be the subject of such investigations in South Korea, which has toughened its laws on drug consumption and trafficking.
President Yoon Suk Yeol this year called for tougher measures to stamp out drug trafficking, in a country where the sale of cannabis is punishable by life in prison.
South Korean law is very strict when it comes to drug use, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
The police notably opened an investigation against Lee Sun-kyun, one of the main actors of the Oscar-winning film Parasite, for use of cannabis and other psychotropic drugs.
In early October, another famous comedian in South Korea, Yoo Ah-in, was charged with drug use.
Prison sentences have also been handed down against members of BIGBANG, one of the most prolific South Korean groups with at least 140 million records sold worldwide since its debut in 2006.
Rapper T.O.P, who revealed in May that he had “withdrew” from the group, was given a suspended prison sentence in 2017 for cannabis use.
For another reason, Seungri, another singer in the group, retired from showbusiness in 2019 before being sentenced to 18 months in prison for having offered women for sexual relations to potential investors.
South Korean law even provides for prison sentences for people returning to South Korea after legally consuming cannabis abroad.
In September, the grandson of former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan, Chun Woo-won, was charged upon his return to the country, after posting a video filmed in New York online in which he filmed himself consuming pills presented as ecstasy and DMT.
