BigBang's G-Dragon under police probe for drug use

SEOUL – South Korean rapper G-Dragon, a former leader of K-pop boy band BigBang, was reportedly booked for drug use on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old, whose real name is Kwon Ji-yong, is under police investigation for breaching the Narcotics Control Act without detention, according to local media citing Incheon Metropolitan Police.

G-Dragon, whose exclusive contract with agency YG Entertainment ended in June, has so far not issued any statement on the police investigation.

The rapper was previously linked to another drug scandal in 2011. He admitted to the use of marijuana at a club in Japan, but said he was unaware of the substance he had accepted and prosecutors dropped the case.

Despite reports linking the latest probe to the alleged drug use of actor Lee Sun-kyun, who starred in the Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019), police denied any connection between the two cases.

Lee, 48, is suspected of having used unspecified illicit substances on several occasions and at several places in southern Seoul’s Gangnam. He was officially booked late on Monday for alleged illegal use of drugs.

Hodu&U Entertainment, the agency representing Lee, issued an apology for causing concern, adding that it will fully cooperate with the police investigation, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

Korea JoongAng Daily said the investigation into Lee had expanded to at least eight other people, including television personality and composer Jung Da-eun. 

Meanwhile, the flagging rally in K-pop stocks is facing a new headwind from concerns over the recent drug probe.

“Several unconfirmed rumours are spreading amid concerns about widening investigations into some members of current K-pop girl and boy groups,” said Mr Suh Bokyung, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.

Shares of Hybe, the music label behind superstar band BTS, sank nearly 12 per cent before paring their decline on Thursday. Listed K-pop agencies SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment all slid around 7 per cent each.

K-pop stocks have surged in 2023 as South Korean entertainment continues to grow its fan base worldwide. Gains have pared, tracking declines in South Korean equities more broadly on the recent pullback in tech stocks. But K-pop continues to outpace the benchmark Kospi, with JYP leading the charge, still up more than 50 per cent in 2023.

Amid the growing global clout of South Korean music and film, companies and performers are held to a high moral standard at home. Reports of drug use can be seen as shocking in South Korea, often damaging entertainers’ careers and causing advertisers to distance themselves.

Lee has been dropped from his latest project, No Way Out, a mystery thriller TV series that began shooting in October, while brands that have used the actor and his wife, actress Jeon Hye-jin, as ambassadors have made adjustments to the advertisements. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, BLOOMBERG