Two middle schoolers caught using marijuana in neighborhood playground

Liquid cannabis cartridges displayed by the Korea Customs Service at Seoul Main Customs in Gangnam District, Seoul, in February 2023. Korea Times file

Two middle school students have been apprehended by police in Seoul for using marijuana at a neighborhood playground in a residential area.

Seoul’s Nowon Police Station said Monday that the two teens are under investigation for violating the Narcotics Control Act.

According to police, the students were spotted around 9:10 p.m. on April 25 at a playground near an apartment complex, allegedly smoking liquid cannabis.

Officers from the Seoul Metropolitan Police’s mobile patrol unit noticed the teens after they began running and shouting phrases such as “Someone is chasing us” and “My friend took drugs.”

The officers pursued and detained the students, later recovering a vape pen containing liquid marijuana that the teens had discarded.

The students were taken to the nearest police station, and the case was transferred to Nowon Police Station. Authorities confirmed that both individuals are over the age of 14 and therefore not classified as "juvenile offenders" under Korean law. Investigators are currently looking into how the teens obtained the drugs.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.