Court Sentences Hospital Director to 3 Years in Prison Over 'Chaebol Family Propofol Suspicion'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The first trial court sentenced a plastic surgeon to prison for repeatedly administering the psychotropic anesthetic propofol to members of chaebol families and others.

Judge Jonggeon Jeong of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 9 sentenced Kim, the director of A Plastic Surgery Clinic in Gangnam, Seoul, to three years in prison on the 5th for violating the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropic substances) and other charges. A fine of 173.19 million won was also ordered. Shin, a nursing assistant who was also indicted on the same charges, was sentenced to three years in prison. The court pointed out, "The defendants habitually administered propofol and forged multiple medical records and even surgery consent forms to avoid detection," describing the nature of the crime as very serious.

Kim was indicted on charges of illegally administering or instructing the administration of propofol 148 times to himself and clients under the pretext of skin beauty treatments at his plastic surgery clinic from September 2017 to November last year. During this process, he also instructed Shin to perform unlicensed medical acts and forged medical records to conceal the illegal administration (forgery of private documents).

This case drew attention after allegations surfaced that chaebol figures, including former Aekyung Development CEO Seungseok Chae, habitually received propofol injections at Kim’s clinic. Former CEO Chae was indicted for illegally administering propofol at Kim’s clinic, was sentenced to eight months in prison in the first trial, and is currently undergoing a second trial.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.