Hwang Ha-na, 37, the granddaughter of the founder of Namyang Dairy Products, was released after a lower court sentenced her to a fine in a trial over charges of administering methamphetamine to acquaintances.
Judge Park Jun-seop of the Anyang Branch of the Suwon District Court on the 9th sentenced Hwang to a fine of 40 million won on charges including violation of the Act on the Control of Narcotics (psychotropic drugs). Prosecutors had sought a five-year prison term for Hwang.
Hwang was indicted and detained on charges that in July 2023, at an apartment in Seoul's Gangnam district, she encouraged two acquaintances to take methamphetamine and injected them directly with a syringe. When police began a search and seizure targeting one of her two accomplices, she fled to Thailand in December of the same year. She was confirmed to have entered Cambodia illegally and stayed there without returning home, despite knowing that her passport had been invalidated and that she was on a red notice. After she expressed her intention to voluntarily turn herself in late last year, police traveled to Cambodia and arrested her aboard a national carrier at Phnom Penh International Airport.
The court found Hwang not guilty of the drug administration charges. "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it is difficult to conclude that the charges — that the defendant personally administered drugs or had them administered — were proven beyond reasonable doubt," the court said. "The statements of the acquaintances who were present at the scene at the time conflict with one another and are inconsistent with the defendant's statement." The court added that "even the objective results of the drug (test) lack clear evidence to prove the charges."
However, the court found Hwang guilty of some of the flight charges, including departing overseas immediately after coming under investigation.
When Judge Park ordered her release after the sentencing, Hwang covered her face and wiped away tears. Hwang had previously been sentenced in 2019 to one year in prison, suspended for two years, on charges of drug use in 2015. She was then indicted again for taking drugs during the suspended sentence period the following year and was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison by the Supreme Court in 2022.
