The Celebrity Drug Bust – Update

Here is a round-up of information collected from hours of scouring the Internet. Keep reading for up-to-date information on Ju Ji Hun, Yoon Seol Hee, Ye Hak Young, Im Ju Hwan and their relevance (or lack thereof) to the drug scandal.

KP’s note: A lot of people spell their names as Joo Ji Hoon, Yeh Hak Young, and Im Joo Hwan. Ju’s website, Ye’s sidusHQ homepage, and Im’s e-mail address say otherwise – it’s Ju Ji Hun, Ye Hak Young, and Im Ju Hwan.

Ju Ji Hun:

• The Seoul Metropolitan Police agency stated on April 29 that they have been working to confirm the following:a) Ju Ji Hun took drugs (ketamine and ecstasy) imported by Yoon Seol Hee.b) Ju Ji Hun took those drugs with Ye Hak Young and three others at the end of March 2008 at approximately 3am in Ye’s home.c) In mid-April of 2008, Ju Ji Hun took the same type of drugs at Ye’s home with Ye, Yoon, and one other.
• He has been dropped from the Tokyo Tower remake project. The production company is hoping to continue with the drama by simply casting a new male lead. However, the project had received financial backing of one to two billion won by Japanese investors whose investment was largely based on Ju’s participation. If the investors pull out of the project, the production company will have to seek financial assistance from elsewhere.
• The Japanese premiere of Ju’s most recent film, The Naked Kitchen, has been indefinitely delayed. The film was supposed to be released at 15 theatres this coming May 30. Advance tickets were sold; however, the company has agreed to grant refunds. Some companies have already done a significant of promotion for the movie in Japan.
• Antique Bakery is already playing in Japan. The responsible Japanese company stated that they would keep it in theatres since 10,000 tickets were pre-sold. However, numbers have shown that not many are coming to watch the film following the outbreak of Ju’s scandal.
• Ju’s planned fan meetings in Osaka and Yokohama have been cancelled. Tickets can be refunded. The Yokohama fan meeting was supposed to be particularly special since it falls on his birthday, May 16.
• It is yet undecided whether DVDs of Antique Bakery will be produced and sold in Korea.
• Ju Ji Hun’s agency has not responded to any inquiries since this past weekend, despite getting calls from around the world.
• Kukinews claimed on April 26 that Ju told police, “I took drugs twice last year in March and April with these people, but I didn’t afterwards because of fear. […] I’m deeply regretful and am reflecting on my actions.”

Yoon Seol Hee:

• Yoon is charged with importing 100 million won worth of ecstasy (280 tablets) and ketamine (280 grams) through fourteen trips to and fro Japan. She did this by inserting the drugs into a feminine hygiene pad that was worn along with two pairs of underwear.
• She took ketamine and ecstasy while with small groups of celebrities or other acquaintances at her home, Yoon’s home, or four or five various clubs in Gangnam and Hongdae.
• Police also suspect that she and Ye inhaled philopone – also known as meth[amphetamine] – in Tokyo and in Seoul.
• Some reports say that Yoon got into dealing drugs due to financial difficulties. A source acquainted with Yoon said that for awhile, Yoon worked at a bar/club near Cha Hospital in Bundang. She said, “[Yoon is a] person who trusts others easily and has a good heart, but I think she ended up like this that from hanging out with a bad crowd.”
• Yoon is said to have admitted guilt to most of the charges against her and is apologetically reflecting on her conduct.

Ye Hak Young:

• Meth and some sort of drug inhaler were found in Ye’s drawer.
• Ye was one of the financial backers for Yoon’s drug smuggling. Three others who paid Yoon were Park, Kim, and Jeon. Park and Kim requested Yoon’s services a dozen times. Ye gave Yoon 3.2 million won to buy drugs over three trips.
• Police also suspect that she and Ye inhaled philopone – also known as meth[amphetamine] – in Tokyo and in Seoul.
• Ye Hak Young and Ju Ji Hun are friends.
• Ye Hak Young and Yoon Seol Hee became acquainted on the set of a sitcom.KP’s note: We assume this was Nonstop 4 (New Nonstop) – Ye was a regular member for the first part of the series.

Im Ju Hwan – no, not that one:

• One news article triggered a flood of similar articles claiming that a model-actor “I” from recent hit show Boys Over Flowers was being investigated. This led to everyone understandably assuming that Im Ju Hwan was the suspect. (Not only is he a model-turned-actor like Ju, he was formerly in the same tight-knit agency with Ye Hak Young. He is fluent in Japanese and visits Japan often for work and play.) However, Im Ju Hwan’s agency fired back with a defensive response: “That is not true. We’re not sure how such a report came about, but after checking, it has been confirmed that [the person in question] is a civilian of the same name. He has never even appeared in the line of police investigation. We will take legal action against false reports.” Im Ju Hwan himself directly refuted allegations just now (late afternoon of April 29, Seoul time) and said, “I am not the being investigated for drugs. It’s just a case of identical names.”KP’s note: What a freaking coincidence. Not going to lie – I’m so happy that it’s not him. Look! He’s adorable!
• A representative of Im’s agency also said, “Out of the people involved in the drug incident, [he] was colleagues with Ju Ji Hun in their modelling days. However, he said that he hasn’t even met with [Ju] in approximately a year and is feeling very victimized.”

A blogger’s claim:

KP’s note: The names of the others involved have not been confirmed on news articles yet. However, this list of names was posted by a particular blogger (who works in stocks) before any reports of Im Ju Hwan came out. The list also includes a Park, Kim, and Jeon – three last names that were included in reports. Accusing someone of drugs is pretty serious, so we want to caution that the full list has not been confirmed by the police. Most of the names are common enough that though there are celebrities with the same names, we cannot be sure whether it is the same person or not. No news articles have put up the full list of names.

• From August 27, 2007 to December 28, 2008, Yoon Seol Hee, Jeon Yoo Ryang, Ye Hak Young, Ju Young Hun (Ju Ji Hun’s birth name), Kim Jung Yeon, Lee Eun Joo, Lee Hye Jin, Lee Hyun Seon, __ Joo Hyun, Ko Ye Ji, Im Ju Hwan, Kim Jin, Park Ji Hye, Kim Ha Na, Park Tae Hong used drugs while in groups of two to five. During a number of get-togethers, ketamine was snorted through a straw and/or ecstasy tablets were swallowed with water.
• Ju Ji Hun took ecstasy and ketamine with Ye Hak Young and three others at the end of March 2008 and again with a few people in mid-April.

Other:

• A representative from the police agency said on April 28 that [up until that point], no other major celebrities had been investigated. Another report later on stated that besides for Ju Ji Hun, there were two to three other celebrities present at the “drug parties”.
• Altogether, there were at least 14 people present – confirmed.
• On the afternoon of April 29, a member of the police stated, “We don’t know how the list became public, but we can’t confirm it, nor can we say if it is right or wrong.” It was also explained that until an official report of the investigation comes out, the police will not comment further. They are forbidden from any contact with the media about the investigation.
• The police are supposedly investigating an unnamed celebrity suspect who debuted as a singer four years ago. He/she is not from the same agency as Ju Ji Hun. However, a representative for this celebrity stated, “[He/she] has been working on a movie [in a different city] for the past while. What investigation would [he/she] have had?”