A doctor and staff at a dermatology clinic in Seoul's Gangnam district have been referred to trial for illegally administering propofol worth several billion won.
The Violent Crimes Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (led by Senior Prosecutor So Chang-beom) said Wednesday that it had indicted and detained a pediatrician in his 50s, identified as A, on charges of violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics. Six employees who participated in the crime, including clinic manager B, and five habitual users were indicted without detention. Prosecutors suspended indictment for 21 other users deemed capable of returning to society through treatment and rehabilitation.
A and others are accused of illegally administering 64,674 milliliters of propofol to 32 people on 1,694 occasions at the Gangnam clinic between November 2020 and September last year. According to prosecutors, the group proactively offered patients additional doses if they brought in the personal information of acquaintances, in an effort to evade surveillance by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Some users received more than 10 consecutive injections in a single day. Prosecutors also confirmed that six of the users later took their own lives due to factors including worsening depression.
The identity theft scheme grew increasingly brazen. To evade tracking by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, A is believed to have used a list of foreigners purchased illegally beginning in May 2023. The group is believed to have falsely recorded 120,852 milliliters of propofol as having been administered on 3,033 occasions by stealing the identities of approximately 2,000 foreigners. Investigators also found that A had instructed unlicensed skincare workers to administer injections directly.
Prosecutors believe A attracted entertainment industry workers and businesspeople as primary customers by offering a relatively low price of around 300,000 won per dose. The criminal proceeds were confirmed to have been used to purchase luxury goods and foreign cars. Prosecutors are pursuing forfeiture procedures to recover criminal proceeds amounting to tens of billions of won.
"In November 2025, we expanded and reorganized the medical narcotics investigation team into two units and strengthened cooperation with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety," an official at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said. "We will also actively utilize treatment and rehabilitation linkage models so that users can return to society normally."
