By Lee Kyung-min
Actresses accused of using propofol were not addicts as previously known, a doctor retracted his previous statement to prosecutors Monday.
The doctor, Ahn, 46, who treated Park Si-yeon, 34, Lee Seung-yeon, 45, Jang mi-inae said that he lied to the prosecution out of fear.
He was arrested on charges of using propofol illegally, and now awaits trial.
He destroyed the documents as asked by the management company of the actresses, and was worried that he might face punishment for lying, according to the statement as presented by the prosecutors.
The fact that he was suspicious about Lee Seung-yeon being an addict because of needle marks on her arm was not first-hand evidence, but hearsay, they said.
It was what a nurse said that he picked up.
Park Si-yeon wasn’t showing signs of addiction as reported, either.
Addicts behave in an uncontrollable way, and she did not, Ahn said.
Previously he said that Park didn’t seem to be in much pain, but she came frequently, which led him to believe that she was addicted.
Ahn and actress Lee Seung-yeon are close friends, and he was worried that he would be the target of the media gossip damaging his business at the hospital, the prosecutors quoted him as saying.