Teen Smuggling Drugs Worth Over 100 Million Won at Wholesale Price... 'Juvenile Transfer' Overturned and Remanded by Supreme Court

Seoul High Prosecutors' Office Decides to Transfer to Juvenile Division for Second Trial... Files Re-Appeal to Supreme Court
Supreme Court: "Appears to Have Judgment Ability Close to Adult"

A teenager who was decided to be sent to the juvenile division in a lower court despite smuggling drugs worth over 100 million won at wholesale price will undergo a second trial again. If the defendant is sent to the juvenile division, they receive protective measures ranging from 1 to 10, such as custody delegation, community service orders, probation, and transfer to a juvenile training center, and no criminal record is created.

Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 20th, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office announced that the original court ruling, which decided to send Mr. A, who is accused of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (psychotropic substances), to the juvenile division, was overturned and remanded in the appeal trial.

According to the prosecution, Mr. A was arrested and indicted on charges of smuggling about 2.96 kg of ketamine from Germany in collusion with accomplices from April to May last year while he was a high school student. The amount of ketamine smuggled by Mr. A and others is equivalent to about 190 million won at wholesale price.

The Incheon District Court sentenced Mr. A to 6 years in long-term imprisonment and 4 years in short-term imprisonment in October last year, considering the large quantity of ketamine smuggled, the significant degree of involvement in the crime, and the need for strict response to drug-related crimes.

However, the Seoul High Court, which handled the appeal trial, agreed with the original court's intention that severe punishment was necessary for Mr. A in January this year, but considering that Mr. A was a high school student at the time and had no prior criminal record, it decided to send him to the juvenile division, stating that "it is preferable to correct behavior through protective measures rather than imprisonment."

In response, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office filed a rehearing with the Supreme Court, arguing that the decision to send Mr. A to the juvenile division was not commensurate with the nature of his crime.

On the 13th of this month, the Supreme Court ruled that the scale and danger of the ketamine smuggled by Mr. A were significant, his involvement was serious as he planned the overall crime, and that Mr. A, who was about 17 years and 10 months old at the time of the crime, appeared to have judgment ability close to that of an adult. The court stated, "The original court's decision is a judgment that significantly exceeds the limits of discretion," and overturned and remanded the case.

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