Actor Yoo Ah-in's 1-year suspended drug sentence finalized by Supreme Court
South Korea's Supreme Court on 3 July 2025 upheld actor Yoo Ah-in's one-year prison term suspended for two years and 2 million won fine for habitual drug use that included smoking marijuana in the United States. The ruling, which dismissed the prosecution's appeal for a heavier sentence, ended a 19-month case and confirmed the release he won when an appellate court set aside his prison term.
🇰🇷 Supreme Court of Korea, Seocho District, Seoul · South Korea
South Korea’s Supreme Court on 3 July 2025 upheld a suspended prison sentence
for actor Yoo Ah-in, confirming his conviction on charges of habitual drug abuse
including the illegal use of marijuana.[1]The Supreme Court’s first division
finalized the ruling of the Seoul High Court, which in February had sentenced
the actor to one year in prison suspended for two years and a fine of 2 million
won, about $1,470.[1]The Supreme Court dismissed the prosecution’s appeal and
upheld the appellate ruling, so the actor’s drug case became final.[2]The
prosecution had appealed for a heavier sentence after originally seeking four
years in prison.[3]
Prosecutors had charged Yoo with violating the Narcotics Control Act, illegal
use of marijuana and encouraging others to use the drug.[1]Investigators said
the actor flew to the United States in January 2024 with an acquaintance
identified by the surname Choi and smoked marijuana there.[1]The Seoul
Central District Court sentenced him to one year in prison and a 2 million won
fine in September 2024 and took him into custody in court.[3]The appeals
court in February replaced that term with a suspended sentence and released him
after more than five months in detention.[1]
The same case also concerned propofol, midazolam, ketamine and remimazolam that
he received at clinics in Seoul under the pretext of cosmetic procedures on 181
occasions between September 2020 and March 2022.[1]The conviction also rested
on those sedatives, not on cannabis alone.[2]The Yonhap news agency reported
that the top court upheld a one-year prison term suspended for two years and a 2
million won fine.[4]
Photos and video
Actor Yoo Ah-in arriving at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District for a sentencing hearing, a picture printed with the report on the Supreme Court ruling. Photo: Joint Press CorpsPhoto details
Yonhap News Agencysp.yna.co.krESEl Tribunal Supremo ratifica la pena de prisión suspendida para el actor Yoo Ah-in por consumo de drogas
Open questions the AI reported
The Korean JoongAng Daily gives Yoo's age as 39 while Yonhap gives 38, so no age is recorded in the report.
The sources disagree on whether encouraging others to smoke marijuana was part of the final conviction: the Korea JoongAng Daily lists it among the charges and The Korea Times says he denied it, while a Vietnamese-language account said he was acquitted of incitement and evidence destruction.
The accounts give no weight for the marijuana he was said to have smoked in the United States, so no cannabis quantity is recorded.
The accounts date the United States trip differently; the report uses the Korea JoongAng Daily's January 2024.
A Vietnamese-language account also mentions 80 hours of drug rehabilitation education and an additional 1.54 million won payment at first instance, which the sources opened here do not all confirm.
The photo on the cited page is an archive picture of the actor arriving at the Seoul Central District Court on 3 September 2024, not of the Supreme Court ruling.
On 8 October 2026 the Suwon District Court sentenced a 53-year-old Korean resident of Japan, a former yakuza member, to 10 years for importing 636 kg of cannabis from Laem Chabang in Thailand to Incheon on 23 March. Prosecutors had asked for 20 years. The drugs were forfeited.
Seoul Central District Court sentenced former BTOB member Jung Il-hoon to two years in prison on 10 June 2021 for habitually buying and smoking marijuana from 2016 to 2019. Seven co-defendants were also sentenced to 18 months to two years, and Jung was taken into custody immediately.
The Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court sentenced singer Choi Daniel, 21, to one year in prison and a 7.16 million won forfeiture for buying, brokering and smoking cannabis, and jailed him in the courtroom. Actor Cha Seung-won's son Cha Noah, 24, was given six months suspended for two years for smoking cannabis two or three times.
The Suwon District Court on 13 April 2009 gave American players Terrence Shannon, DeAngelo Collins and Calvin Warner six-month prison terms suspended for one year for smoking marijuana at a Seoul hotel in January. Collins admitted the charge while Shannon and Warner denied it, and all three had already been expelled by their clubs.
