Korean TV Looks Into Park Bom’s Drug Scandal Again, Here’s Everything We Know About It

The most recent episode of MBC‘s PD Notebook revisited the drug scandal involving 2NE1‘s Park Bom, looking further into the situation that placed her under investigation for drug smuggling.

Back in 2010, Park Bom was accused of smuggling 82 capsules of amphetamines from the United States. She admitted to using the drug as a treatment for a psychological condition, and the charges were eventually dropped.

The case, however, was compared to another by PD Notebook.  An employee at Samsung Electronics, referred to as “Person A,” was caught smuggling 29 tablets of amphetamines from the U.S. through a Fedex package around the same time as Park Bom.

Person A was exposed on August 12, 2010, arrested on August 13, imprisoned on August 16, and charged on August 19.
Park Bom was exposed on October 12, 2010, and the investigation stopped on November 30.

Attorney Bae Seung Hee expressed her confusion at the final verdict of Park Bom’s case.

“She [Park Bom] was prescribed the drugs through another person in the U.S., and [that person] sent them with jelly candies to get them past customs. In normal circumstances, it would be difficult to believe that it was sent for treatment.” — Bae Seung Hee

More questions arose when it was revealed who was involved with prosecution: Kim Soo Chang was appointed as the 2nd Deputy Chief Prosecutor and Kim Hak Ui was the district attorney in charge of the case.

Kim Hak Ui, District Attorney.

In addition to giving what some people thought of as preferential treatment towards a celebrity, Kim Soo Chang and Kim Hak Ui both wound up having their own scandals, and resigning from their positions.