Daughter of Herald ex-head gets suspended jail term for drug use

By Kim Rahn

A daughter of former lawmaker Hong Jung-wook leaves Incheon Detention Center, Sept. 30, after an arrest warrant for her on illegal drug smuggling charges was rejected. / Yonhap

A local court handed down a two-and-a-half-year prison term suspended for three years to a daughter of Hong Jung-wook, a former chairman of Herald Corp. and former lawmaker of the Grand National Party, the precursor of the Liberty Korea Party, Tuesday, after finding her guilty of drug smuggling.

In late September, the junior Hong, 18, was detained at Incheon International Airport after flying in from Honolulu, Hawaii, for attempting to bring in a variety of illegal drugs, including liquid marijuana cartridges, LSD and Adderall, in her pockets and luggage.

“She used marijuana multiple times and smuggled illegal drugs here. Stern punishment is required for narcotics use, but we considered that she admitted her crime, had no previous criminal record and was a minor,” the court said in the ruling.

It asked her to make efforts not to repeat the wrongdoings, saying she was young but the amount of illegal substances she was caught with was huge.

The prosecution initially sought an arrest warrant after she was caught at the airport, but a court rejected this saying she was unlikely to flee or destroy evidence. So prosecutors indicted her without detention on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act.

During an investigation by the prosecution, she admitted to using illegal drugs on nine occasions during her stay in the U.S. between February last year to September this year. She admitted she brought the drugs into the country but intended to use them herself and not to sell.

Hong entered a university in the U.S. this year. Her father, 49, was a lawmaker of the Grand National Party between 2008 and 2012, and headed Herald Corp., the publisher of the Korea Herald and the Herald Business, from 2002 to May this year.