Man gets jail sentence for buying cannabis from US

By Jung Min-ho

A man, 34, has received a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence suspended for four years for buying cannabis online.

The Jeju District Court convicted the man, surnamed Jang, Tuesday, of buying 20.84 grams of marijuana from an unknown seller in the United States.

The court also ordered him to perform 40 hours of community service.

Jang found the seller while he was searching information about cannabis on YouTube. It was found that he paid 450,000 won ($400) for the amount of cannabis.

The seller had the product ― packed in dark plastic bags and paper ― delivered to Jang via international mail.

Twenty days after the purchase, Sept 11, customs officials found the marijuana at the airport.

Police later found that Jang smoked marijuana at least three times in August.

Selling or buying marijuana is illegal in Korea. It carries a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won. Yet such activity is common on overseas-based websites, over which Korean law enforcement has little control.