Yang Hyun-seok, accused of covering up B.I drug investigation, appears in first formal trial

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Yang Hyun-suk, former YG Entertainment CEO and executive producer, who was indicted on charges of covering up a drug investigation involving former idol group iKON member B.I, attended his first trial. Although a pretrial hearing was held in August, this is the first formal trial. Unlike the pretrial hearing, attendance is mandatory for the formal trial.

On the 5th, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 23 (Presiding Judge Yoo Young-geun) held the first trial at 10 a.m. for Yang, who was indicted without detention on charges of retaliatory threats under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. When Yang met with reporters at the court that day, he did not respond to questions regarding the 'cover-up of drug purchase investigation' and entered the courtroom.

Yang was brought to trial on charges of persuading and threatening Mr. A, a former trainee singer, to prevent the investigation of B.I after Mr. A was arrested on drug charges and testified to the police about B.I’s alleged drug purchases.

At that time, Mr. A raised suspicions that although B.I was under investigation for related charges, the investigation was covered up due to collusion between the police and YG. In particular, he claimed that the police had obtained evidence of B.I’s drug use but did not investigate, with Yang at the center of this.

In June 2019, Mr. A also reported the matter to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC). After receiving the materials from the ACRC, the prosecution compiled the investigation results and indicted four people, including B.I and Yang.

At the previous pretrial hearing, the prosecution stated, "Yang called Mr. A to the YG office and persuaded and threatened him to 'retract his statement.' During this process, he threatened, saying 'Killing you is nothing,' which led to the retraction of the statement." On the other hand, Yang’s side stated, "It is true that we met and talked with Mr. A, but we never threatened or coerced him to make false statements as described in the indictment."

Meanwhile, B.I was indicted for violating the Narcotics Control Act for purchasing marijuana, LSD, and other drugs and partially using them in April 2016. On September 1, he was sentenced in the first trial to three years in prison with a four-year probation. Neither the prosecution nor B.I appealed after the first trial verdict, so the sentence was finalized.

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