“Investigation of 6 witnesses” G-Dragon acquitted? Sent to prosecution with circumstantial evidence?

With the police announcing that they have entered the final stages of investigating Big Bang's G-Dragon (35, real name Kwon Ji-yong), who is suspected of drug use, attention is being paid to what the outcome will be.

When asked about the status of the investigation into G-Dragon at a regular press conference on the 11th, Woo Jong-soo, head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency, said, "We have conducted objective verification and investigated about 6 witnesses, so the investigation is somewhat nearing completion. We will conclude the results as quickly as possible." “I will inform you,” he said. The police sent the urine, body hair, and fingernails provided by G-Dragon to the National Forensic Service for analysis, but all came back negative. It appears that the police, who failed to secure physical evidence, began to secure circumstantial evidence by summoning a number of witnesses.

Previously, based on the statement of A (29, female), the manager of an entertainment establishment in Gangnam, Seoul, who is currently detained, the police suspected that G-Dragon had taken drugs at the entertainment establishment in December of last year and began an investigation. After being booked on drug charges, G-Dragon strongly denied the charges and actively worked to prove his innocence by voluntarily appearing at the police and cooperating with the investigation.

However, although the police failed to secure physical evidence against G-Dragon, they have stated that they will go to the end to prove the charges. In response to a question about the possibility of G-Dragon not being indicted at a press conference at the end of last month, a high-ranking police official said, "If it is clear that he took drugs under various circumstances, I don't think it is right to send him to a non-indictment just because he tested negative." He explained that regardless of the circumstances, there are cases in which a person is found guilty when the circumstances of drug use are clear.

As he said, "We will conclude it quickly," attention is being paid to what results the police will release from their investigation into G-Dragon in the near future.

Meanwhile, the police plans to additionally summon actor Lee Sun-gyun (48), who is also being investigated for drug use. The statement is that an intensive investigation will be conducted regarding Lee Sun-gyun's complaint against Mr. A and one other person on charges of blackmail.

Director Woo said, "In addition to Lee Sun-kyun's suspicion of drug use, there are two ongoing investigations related to Mr. A, the manager of an entertainment establishment who accused him of blackmail." “We can judge its credibility,” he said. He added, "We will consider a summons once the investigation into the extortion case progresses a little further," and added, "The specific date of the summons has not been set."

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr