K-actor Yoo Ah In Formally Sentenced to One Year in Jail for Illegal Drug Use
This may come as a relief for K-actor Yoo Ah In in that at least he knows what his future is for this uncertain legal issue. The Seoul district court today sentenced the disgraced actor to one year in jail for a host of illegal drug use charges that started a year and a half ago in February 2023. I think the jail sentence seems commensurate with the extent of his drug use under South Korean law and if he hasn’t already gotten clean in the interim being in jail will certainly help with that. He is also under investigation from allegations made last month by a man that Yoo Ah In sexually assaulted him at a party, and those charges have not been substantiated.
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It’s a far lighter sentence than what most were expecting so good news for him for sure. The SA allegations however is a far more serious and damning crime. The whole situation is such a mess and the police keeps leaking info they should not be until they know what actually happened. Anyway we’ll see how that one goes.
Nice job dude.
There is still the underlying psychological reason he needed those drugs. I don’t supposed he had any psychiatric, psychological or proper detox for those. It’s a long-time addiction. His life still lies ahead. I actually feel sorry for him. I hope he leaves S Korea after this and get some proper help in the future.
Agree
Agreed too.
Hopefully he gets out of South Korea as soon as that is done. He isn’t going to find any real help there. This isn’t as terrible as it could have been so just do the time and run, get some real help.
I wonder what happens to Yoo Ah In’s die hard suppprters on koala site. Would they get angry over this sentence?
Wonder what will his fan base react? Are they all turning up to protest?
It’s such a pity that he started off so brilliantly and so talented. But halfway, there were signs of gloom and dread around him but his fans took it as passion or creative eccentricity. Looking closely one could sense that this man was struggling with keeping up with the stress of stardom and strive to excel….
Anyway life moves on. He should be relatively rich and can live a good life by having a peaceful, disciplined and prudent lifestyle starting today.
@Rei
He had a bone tumour diagnosis and even though benign, that’s probably where the addiction started. That is painful af but managing pain is not easy and getting hooked is. It’s also well known doctors don’t pay enough attention to this.
What he needs is treatment, I haven’t seen any of his fans say anything else. Most people just want him to get his life back. That’s not going to happen until he gets help. Lbr, that’s not happening in Korea so hopefully he manages to sort his own head out enough to realise this and gets help in the States.
He just got sentenced to jail so maybe not starting today. Also wondering why some fans think it’s that easy for him to get US citizenship and start over. Many asian actors, even well known ones struggle to get roles in Hollywood.
@Wondering: I don’t understand these comments asking him to move country. He is rich. He can pay for treatment and rehab in Korea. It exists…for the rich. The problem for most drug addicts in SK is that they cannot afford to access treatment and rehabilitation services which isn’t the case for this actor
He would not be able to get a US Visa with a recent criminal charges for illegal usage of narcotics, illegally purchasing pills with other people’s Rx and coercion charges against him topped off with a documented serious drug addiction. The majority of countries would not give him a visitor Visa with this criminal history and definitely not a resident visa
@Sunny
Go to the States to get help because that’s where he will find it (he can choose UK too, I am talking about English speaking countries because he knows the language). He won’t get this in SK. He can get a visa. You can do anything with money, especially if you wave medical issues as a need.
Don’t know about what he might do about his career after but it’s not important. He needs to be alive and well to even think about that which means real rehab and help first.
It’s better than the 4 years the prosecutor asked for.
It sucks but at least, it was a good wake-up call because the number of drugs he took was really bad. He really needs help.
I read that all these drugs was just a clickbait from journalists, and the one drug he sued for is propofol, which using by people who can’t sleep.
Oh, and marijuana
It’s a little surprising knowing that his doctors just received a fine for injecting him with propofol and weren’t sentenced. “The drugs were administered in professional clinics under the guise of cosmetic procedures”.
He can still appeal and get probation, although I doubt about that.
Actor Ju Ji Hoon was sentenced to six months of jail for using drugs. He managed to come back and seems to be fine, so if YAI isn’t guilty in SA case hope he will be fine as well.
It’s impressive JJH managed to salvage his career. Ju Ji Hoon received a more lenient sentence because he tested negative for drugs but pled guilty and confessed to using drugs and he had “only” used them on a few specific occasions a year ago.
Yoo Ah In’s situation is different as it is confirmed he is a long term habitual drug user and he’s been trying to get out of the conviction so they will make sure he gets some jail time. Let’s hope it will be wake up call for him and he has made an effort to get clean. Propofol is very dangerous and has caused a many deaths.
@Sunny – thank you for bringing some logic in the comments section. Both in the comparison to JJH as well as the topic of moving to the US. Most of the comments here have been utterly nonsensical – especially the latter.
JJH’s case was also completely different both in the stage of where his career was at when his case came out, as well as (like you said), him pleading guilty and accepting the crime. YAI has been battling this case for years and it’s been a ton of negative press for him for a long time now. Personally, I hope he can recover his life, accept that he needs rehab, and get on that bandwagon. That’s a more pressing issue than salvaging whatever is left of his career which is very little after these back to back scandals.
@Millie:
Lol thanks. Like I realise they are fans but facts are facts: he is guilty. The evidence against him is overwhelming and if he had just held his hands up and admit he is guilty and shown some remorse from the start he might have got a lighter sentence or even probation but he has lied, made excuses and used his money to try and get out of it for over a year. His sentence is actually very light considering he was found guilty of habitual illegal drug use and abuse and habitual illegal purchase of drugs and the prosecutors were pushing for 4 years: one year prison and a 2 million won (approx.$1400) fine which is pocket change to him.
Even if he could get a Visa running away to the US where drugs are even easier to procure would be a bad move for him. I hope he rehabs, gets clean and uses his money and influence to advocate for and support better access to affordable drug treatment and rehab facilities in South Korea for addicts like Nam Tae Hyun spoke at the National Assembly about the importance of governmental support for rehabilitation treatment last year. YAI is much more famous and could make a difference. That would be a way to at least make something positive about this incident.