Korea used to be a country where there’s no drug-related crimes.
Yes, now it’s a past-tense fact.
In retrospect, speaking from my own experience when I was a student, Marijuana and other drug consumption/selling/possession was something that I can only watch from hollywood movies and some western shows.
Drug was so far away from the reality of everyday life in Korea, at least from where I was grew up.
Now is a totally different case, in recent news shows that the number of those arrested for drug-related crimes came to an all-time high of 2,000 in January and February this year, and illegal drugs confiscated in the first two months of this year reached 176.9 kilograms, up nearly 60 percent from the previous year.
Korea has zero tolerance police against drug-ralated crimes(and the government even declared ‘the war against drug-related crimes’ in 2023), and a mere possession of drug can be punished by imprisonment with labor for a limited term or not less than a year. There are no other punishment other than imprionment for the mere possession of drug in Korea.
Say that you have some candies(say it’s some ecstasy) while you’re getting through the custom when you are entering Korea. Once you are caught by the airport police officers, than you’re to be examined of the purposes of the possession by the investigators(you can be even questioned and examines under arrest). Once they reached the conclusion that you smuggled the drug(not a mere possession), the penalty is way more harsher as the imprisonment for not less than five years.
The common excuses for smugging the drum is either ‘a gift’ or ‘not knowingly’. In some extent, those two defense are ultimately the same since those two defense also means the same thing, as “I have nothing to do with that drug.”
As I am working as a criminal lawyer in Korea for foreigners, I find it very surprising how normal my clients are. ‘Being Normal’is the only adjective that I can choose, since they are actually just normal, law-abiding citizens(not for drug of course) people who you can say hi to in everyday of your life.
That’s where you need to start your defense, ‘being-normal’, since the purpose of Korean Criminal Code for drug-related crimes(Narcotics Control Act) is to “contribute to improving the health of the general public by placing narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, cannabis, or precursors under appropriate control and handling, thus preventing harm or danger to the public health that may arise from the misuse or abuse thereof.”.
※ For more help from LKS lawyers, please contact team leader of LKS directly at +82-10-6693-0117(team leader Jayp Kim, Attorney at Law). With the on point help from English speaking lawyer in Seoul, Korea of LKS, your story will be heard loud and clear.
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