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| Rapper T.O.P of BIGBANG leaves Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Monday, as his position at the agency to service 2-yaer military duty has been cancelled after the prosecution indicted him over illegal drug use in last October. / Yonhap |
By Kim Jae-heun
YG Entertainment has recently earned the nickname "Yak Guk," Korean for "drugstore," after idol singer T.O.P of BIGBANG was charged with smoking marijuana.
The rapper is currently serving his military duty at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) and he admitted to the charges that took place before his enlistment last October. The prosecution indicted T.O.P without detention.
YG takes its name from founder Yang Hyun-suk's nickname "Yang Goon," but his K-pop bands' involvement in drugs has tainted its original meaning.
It is reported that T.O.P smoked marijuana three times with a girl group trainee from YG Entertainment at his home in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The woman in her 20s is also facing the same charges as the star rapper.
Prior to T.O.P's prosecution, his bandmate G-Dragon was found to have illegally smoked marijuana while he was touring Japan for a BIGBANG concert in May 2011.
However, G-Dragon was released without indictment as the prosecutors said he smoked only a tiny amount and it was his first time use.
The prosecution tested G-Dragon's hair in July and verified his use of the banned drug. The leader of BIGBANG admitted his crime during interrogation.
Singer Park Bom of former YG Entertainment K-pop group 2NE1 reportedly smuggled 82 banned amphetamine pills in 2010. The local press reported four years later that Korean customs officers caught Park attempting to import illegal drugs through international shipping but the prosecution suspended its indictment of the singer.
The prosecution said, then, Park had taken amphetamines for medical purposes when she lived in the United States in the past, where the drug was legally prescribed under limitations.
Park alleged that she has been suffering from psychological shock after she witnessed her friend's death during a football game when she was a schoolgirl in the U.S.
She continued to take the same medication in Korea but received a prescription without amphetamines as it is considered an illegal substance here. Park felt the drugs with no amphetamines did not work well for her and ordered amphetamine pills based on the prescriptions she got in the U.S.
