Daughter of ex-Herald Corp. chief caught smuggling drugs

A daughter of Hong Jung-wook leaves detention center in Michuhol, Incheon, Monday, after she has been apprehended for attempting to smuggle various illegal drugs, last Friday. Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

A daughter of Hong Jung-wook, a former chairman of Herald Corp. and an ex-lawmaker of the Grand National Party, the precursor of the Liberty Korea Party, has been caught smuggling various illegal drugs.

According to the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, Monday, the customs authority at Incheon International Airport apprehended the 19-year-old with marijuana, LSD and Adderall in her pockets and luggage, at around 5:40 p.m. last Friday.

She was returning to Korea from Honolulu in Hawaii.

The prosecution said it would investigate whether she was involved in other drug-related crimes. It requested an arrest warrant but a local court rejected it, saying she was unlikely to flee.

The junior Hong, born in 2000 in the United States, entered a university there this year. The senior Hong, 49, is also a graduate of the school. He was a lawmaker of the Grand National Party from 2008 to 2012. He headed the Herald Corp., which publishes The Korea Herald and The Herald Business, from 2002 to May this year.