[2020 National Audit] Park Beom-gye Criticizes Hong Jeong-uk's Daughter's Drug Case Sentence as Unfair

Park Beom-gye, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is protesting against a statement made by a member of the People Power Party during the audit of the Ministry of Justice held by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly on the 12th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] Park Beom-gye, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed on the 13th that the sentence given to Hong Jeong-uk, the 20-year-old daughter of former Hannara Party lawmaker Hong Jeong-uk, who was sentenced to a suspended prison term for drug use, is disproportionate compared to other drug cases such as the recent case of smuggling marijuana in a teddy bear.

Park referred to the first trial ruling of this case during the National Assembly's inspection of the Daejeon High Court and District Court held that day, pointing out, "In the case of Ms. Hong, the prosecution unusually gave up on appealing, so the sentence was finalized."

Park also emphasized, "The defendant used drugs frequently and even smuggled LSD (paper-type drug), but there is a discrepancy in sentencing compared to recent drug offenders who smuggled marijuana in teddy bears," adding, "Inconsistent sentencing goes against public sentiment, so efforts to overcome this seem necessary."

Ms. Hong was indicted without detention on charges of smuggling six liquid marijuana cartridges, a variant drug, and LSD at Incheon International Airport on September 27 last year, violating the Narcotics Control Act.

The prosecution additionally charged Ms. Hong with purchasing narcotics three times and using or smoking them nine times from February 2018 until just before returning to Korea last September, including in the United States and other places.

The 15th Criminal Division of the Incheon District Court, which handled Ms. Hong's first trial, sentenced her in December last year to 2 years and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspended sentence. The second trial upheld the same sentence.

The teddy bear marijuana smuggling case mentioned by Park as a comparison was a case judged by the Daejeon District Court, where two individuals who smuggled marijuana hidden inside dolls into the country were sentenced: one received 3 years in prison with a 5-year suspended sentence, and the other received 2 years in prison with a 4-year suspended sentence.

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