I cover a wide range of stories about Korean society — one of the most dynamic places in the world. To me, journalism means being on the ground, uncovering untold stories and amplifying marginalized voices, especially in an era when AI is reshaping the media landscape. That’s why I’m always here to listen. Tips and stories are welcome — feel free to reach out via email. Before becoming a journalist, I traveled through 24 countries over 702 days, served two years as a military police officer in the Republic of Korea Air Force and later studied filmmaking at the Korea National University of Arts.
Rap star’s overdose exposes gaps in Korea’s drug enforcement
Yoon Byung-ho, better known by his rap name Bully Da Ba$tard, speaks about his experience with drug use. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2023 for violating the Narcotics Control Act. Captured from the Korean Broadcasting System's In Depth 60 Minutes YouTube Channel
By Park Ung
Fentanyl abuse in Korea moves from shadows to national emergency
Yoon Byung-ho, better known by his rap name Bully Da Ba$tard, boldly introduced himself as “the best rapper in Korea” when he was just 17.
“Anyone who’s heard my music already knows that,” Yoon said in a 2017 interview on the reality show "School Rapper."
Once hailed as one of Korea’s brightest young hip-hop talents, his promising career was derailed by fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. The drug took a severe toll on his health, causing persistent vomiting that decayed his teeth, ultimately costing him four molars and a front tooth.
“Quitting fentanyl was so painful, I would smash things with a hammer,” Yoon said in a later interview warning others about the dangers of drug abuse. “The pain makes it impossible to control yourself.”
In the end, Yoon couldn’t break free. In 2023, the Supreme Court sentenced him to seven years in prison on charges of drug possession, purchase and use.
To prevent repeated exposure to drugs in cases like Yoon's, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety last year introduced a system requiring doctors and dentists to check a patient’s prescription history before issuing a prescription for medical fentanyl.
Fentanyl tablets and patches, typically used for pain relief, were designated as the first substances to be monitored under a system that tracks patients’ prescription history. The move followed a series of cases in which individuals obtained excessive prescriptions by visiting multiple clinics and then illegally sold the drugs through social media.
Much of the fentanyl flooding the United States — the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 44 — is smuggled in by Mexican cartels, with chemical ingredients often sourced from China.
In Korea, however, most illegal fentanyl distribution stems from diverted prescriptions, where legally obtained fentanyl is misused or resold.
In 2021, police filed a criminal case against 42 teenagers in South Gyeongsang Province and Busan for illegally obtaining and using fentanyl patches. They visited clinics claiming to suffer from severe pain — saying things like “I’m about to have surgery” or “my back pain is unbearable” — to obtain prescriptions, which were then misused.
A device used by teenagers to inhale fentanyl patches, seized by the police in 2021 / Courtesy of the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency
According to police, there were cases in which individuals obtained fentanyl prescriptions as many as 57 times. The ringleaders sold the patches to other teens for up to 150,000 won ($109) per sheet, or up to 80,000 won for a half-sheet.
According to the ministry, prescriptions for fentanyl patches and tablets in Korea increased by 67 percent — from just over 890,000 in 2018 to nearly 1.49 million in 2021.
Under the system introduced last year, doctors and dentists may choose not to prescribe or administer the drug if there are concerns about misuse, such as excessive or overlapping prescriptions, after reviewing a patient’s prescription history.
The ministry announced Sunday that prescriptions for medical fentanyl patches are showing a downward trend one year after the system’s introduction.
In March, just under 196,000 patches were prescribed, down 7.2 percent from the same month a year ago.
The number of patients prescribed fentanyl patches is also falling.
In January 2024, just over 26,000 patients received prescriptions, but the figure gradually declined to around 23,000 from October through December. This January, the number dropped to 22,029 and has remained at similar levels for three consecutive months.
The government plans to expand the system to include other medical narcotics, such as ADHD medications and appetite suppressants. This would require doctors to review a patient’s drug history before prescribing those substances as well.
Still, drugs are becoming an increasingly serious problem in Korea.
According to Statistics Korea, the number of people apprehended for drug-related crimes rose from just under 10,000 in 2014 to more than 27,000 in 2023.
From 2011 to 2021, deaths caused by medical narcotics in Korea rose from 31 to 169 — an increase of 5.5 times.
Lee Seok-min, an official at Statistics Korea, noted in last year’s report that fatalities linked specifically to medical narcotics — including prescription opioids like fentanyl — have been on the rise, fueling growing concern over the misuse of legally prescribed substances.