Park Bom's Drug Smuggling Operation Busted

SHE IS THE ONE WHO KNOCKED

"In a report by KBS News, according to prosecutors on June 30, Park Bom attempted to bring approximately 80 pills of amphetamines into Korea from the United States via international post... and the singer was found out while passing through customs at Incheon International Airport. However, according to the report, her case was suspended, as amphetamines can be given as a prescription in the United States, and there was an instance of Park Bom being prescribed the drug while in the U.S. 

"...distribution of the drug is banned in Korea. 

"Park Bom’s agency YG Entertainment has stated that they will soon be releasing an official statement." 

Yep. You read that correctly. Park Bom was hopped up on speed, ice, shabu, whizz, fettle, throttle, meth, crack, coke, yayo, blow, cocaine, e, ecstasy, MDMA, Ritalin, Adderol, and/or all sorts of amphetamines, and tried to MAIL HERSELF 80 PILLS OF THAT SHIT.


Intelligence of the act aside, Park Bom has been ousted as either one of two things:

(1) Park Bom is the true leader of the YG Family drug cartel. We all thought it was GDruggin, but that guy is small time pussy shit. He just pushes half ounces of shit weed he probably grows himself on his patio, but Park Bom is the real deal. She's pushing the real shit, the hard shit that everyone wants a piece of but is too afraid to get their hands dirty for.

(2) Park Bom is just a poor mule, caught in a bad position by the popo because someone probably ratted her out. I blame JYP, they're pretty jealous of the other big entertainment groups these days. At any rate, the true mastermind behind the YG Family drug cartel is still unknown.

The fan outcry has been extremely delicious, with both sides ("WOW PARK BOM IS A FUCKIN' DRUGGIE, BURN THE WITCH" and "UNNIE DIDN'T MEAN IT") full of hilarity. Most of Park Bom's defenders are saying how she has a prescription for them and she was totally in need of it, so case closed.

l0l

As if people can't get prescriptions for anything these days, or as if you need prescriptions to get pretty much anything you want. Just head toward your nearest college campus if you yourself want to get your hands on some of these "amphetamines" for example (in any country, I guarantee you). And besides, amphetamine itself is a pretty broad term for a wide range of narcotics from the relatively mild Adderol to the big bad crack cocaine. It's illegal in Korea to have this shit, and drug use in general is heavily stigmatized. I don't need to remind you all how crazy everyone gets when people get caught with marijuana, and that's the "baby" of illegal substances. There's really no reason, culturally for all you relativists (mostly using the wrong interpretation or flawed premises, more on that in a future article) or otherwise, that this was okay.

Look, I don't mean to pass definitive legal judgment on this whole deal (as I'm not qualified, let alone give a shit), but you gotta admit... MAILING YOURSELF SHIT THAT IS ILLEGAL IN YOUR COUNTRY BY FEDEX? Not exactly the smartest idea. When I first saw the headlines, I thought she was getting pills from her fangirls sewn into the stuffed animal goods or hiding that shit under her boobs or something. But MAIL? Come on man.

Not exactly her finest hour.

In addition, YG released a personal letter trying to diffuse the situation (translated here by our good pals Allkpop). I can't be assed to dissect the thing line by line, but I just wanna bring this particular one to your attention:

It's said [the drug] has narcotic properties, did they know of this?

In common sense, what mother and grandmother would go get their daughter and grandmother narcotic?

Especially in a world like today when most medications need prescriptions, how many people know of what kind of properties a medication has?

Emphasis mine. How many people know of what kind of properties a medication has? ALL THE RESPONSIBLE ONES? In America at least, doctors are expected to know the side effects and properties of a drug so they can SAFELY prescribe something to the patient based on their personal medication history, health concerns, and other important factors. I can't imagine a world where any self-respecting doctor would just let her take drugs "prescribed to her by a famous university hospital in the U.S." without letting her know what it does or what to expect in terms of side-effects or WHAT THE FUCK SHE'S ACTUALLY TAKING. Of course, you can take the letter however you like, but I just was extremely irritated by that bullshit line. Especially as a pre-health student.

However, I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is how this whole thing was revealed to have gone down in 2010. Yes, almost 4 years ago (I intentionally left that part out in the quote at the top because I wanted to join in on all the sensationalism going on at the moment, kappa), but is suddenly being brought up now.

According to the press (Yes, I know it's Allkpop but they're the only ones with some more context into the whole thing. Surprising to me too.)/authorities, the whole thing was caught and pardoned back in 2010 without a trace.

She was originally caught by customs, and it was reported to the Incheon District Prosecutors. The pills were scheduled to be delivered to the address of a relative and the package recipient was in the name of Park Bom's relative. The prosecution discovered the package was meant for Park Bom after investigations at the receiving address. The case was officially registered on October 19th. However, 42 days later on November 30th, the prosecutors decided to suspend the case. Case suspensions for cases where there is a charge, but there is no need to book the case. When cases are booked, a suspected person's status changes to a criminal suspect. It's the first time that the prosecutors have given such an indulgence to a for drug related crimes. Park Bom avoided all punishment because of this, and many are wondering why they decided to just let her go. 

A prosecutor with experience in drug investigations said, "Even if it is their first time, amphetamine smugglers are held and investigated by rule, and I cannot understand what the logic behind not even booking her case was.There are cases where drug criminals are first booked and then the cases are suspended, but I've never heard of a case where it wasn't even registered."

Sounds pretty shady to me. YG probably pulled some strings, paid some people, and scared some others into making this go away at the time. That part shouldn't really surprise anyone, but there are those who are saying that (as is alarmingly common for "major scandals" in the damn country) Park Bom's drug thing is being used to mask outcry for a different governmental scandal altogether. With the track record of previous scandals and suspicious timing, I'm fairly inclined to believe the allegations of government media manipulation. People are starting to realize it, but all the idiotic fangirls are drowning a lot of that conversation. Sigh.

But enough about that. With the not-so-obvious reveal of the YG Family drug cartel, this makes the Big 3 entertainment companies embroiled in some pretty funny scandals. If YG's been busted for drug and SM/JYP/CCM have been busted for embezzlement, who's next? Will Cube be busted for prostitution? Will Loen be caught in a gambling circuit? Will we ever find out how deep the YG Family drug cartel's rabbit hole goes??