Gyeonggi governor's son detained on drug charges

Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil’s first son at the police station in Seoul, Monday. / Screen captured from YTN

By Bahk Eun-ji, Park Si-soo

Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil’s first son has been detained for taking an illegal drug, police said Monday.

The son, 26, was caught at an entertainment district in southern Seoul at 10:55 p.m. trying to persuade a woman to take methamphetamine together, according to Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

The two reportedly met through a chatting app _ and the woman turned out to be an undercover policewoman.

Police raided the son’s house and found two grams of methamphetamine. He tested positive for the drug in a urine test. He admitted taking a small dose one time after smuggling four grams from China on Sept. 13, according to police.

The prosecution is seeking an arrest warrant.

Governor Nam cut short a business trip to Germany and was on his way home.

“I feel sorry from the bottom of my heart,” the governor wrote on Facebook. “I will immediately return home on the earliest possible flight. I deeply apologize on behalf of my son to the people and to the residents of our province,”

It was the son’s first alleged violation of drug laws.

In 2014, when he was a conscripted solider, he was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, for abusing a lower-ranked soldier.