American turned South Korean TV celebrity Robert Holley nabbed for crystal meth use, as Seoul cracks down on drugs
- His arrest, days after two members of powerful business families were targeted, highlights the renewed attention being paid by authorities to drug use
Formerly an American citizen, Robert Holley, 58, became naturalised a South Korean and built a profile discussing South Korean celebrity culture. But on Tuesday, broadcast images showed Holley covering his face with a black baseball cap and a medical mask while being led from Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency to a cell in the Suwon Nambu police station.
“I am sorry,” he told reporters before being driven away. “I have a heavy heart.”
How the K-pop sex scandal exposes South Korea’s culture of toxic masculinity
He was taken into police custody on Monday, charged with purchasing the banned substance online, a police detective said.
“We’ve collected urine and hair samples and sent them to forensic authorities to determine whether he used the drug,” the detective told the South China Morning Post.
Holley first came from California to South Korea in 1978 as a Christian missionary before returning to the US to study law. He returned to South Korea in 1986 and married a Korean woman the following year. He founded an international school in Gwangju in 1996 and gave up his US citizenship to become a naturalised South Korean and adopted a Korean name, Ha Il. He also began appearing regularly on television as a commentator, speaking fluently in the Korean dialect of Busan.
MBC TV, one of the country’s three major networks, said Holley would be edited out of its Radio Star programme that had featured him.
Two members of powerful family-run conglomerates, known as chaebol, have also been targeted in the past week for purchasing and consuming marijuana, highlighting the renewed attention being paid by authorities to drug use.
I am sorry. I have a heavy heart
One is Chey Young-geun, the 30-year-old grandson of Chey Jong-gun, who founded SK Group, a telecom and oil giant. Police said he had been taken into custody.
Police are also investigating a 28-year-old grandson of Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung, and have urged the man, whose name has been withheld, to return home from overseas and turn himself in.
Statistics show drug abuse cases in South Korea have increased, with the number of offenders rising from about 11,900 in 2015 to 14,000 in 2017.
“With the development of the internet, access to suppliers has become easier,” a Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency spokesman said.
US$168 million cocaine haul sparks fears South Korea becoming drug smugglers’ gateway to China, rest of Asia
Drugs are more expensive in South Korea than in other parts of Asia: methamphetamine sells for about US$285 per gram, compared to US$59 in China and US$117 in Singapore, according to Seoul’s Segye Times. However, punishment tends to be more lenient, with offenders facing no more than five years in prison or 50 million won (US$44,000) in fines. This ensures traffickers are attracted to South Korea.
Official figures show the total seizure of drugs rose to 517kg last year from 162kg in 2014. In particular, the quantity of imported drugs that were confiscated increased six-fold over the same period.
Methamphetamine accounts for about 70 per cent of drugs circulating in South Korea, although the use of opium, cocaine, morphine and heroine have also increased.
