South Korean media outlets claimed earlier today (Monday, 8th June) that former iKON member B.I (real name Kim Han Bin, 김한빈) was indicted by the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office back on 28th May for violating illegal drug control laws.
If you’ve been following the news, the idol made headlines over the past few years for his alleged illegal substance abuse scandal. Rumour has it that he had obtained the illegal drugs, marijuana and LSD from an acquaintance “A” (Han Seo Hee) back in April 2016.
The police started looking into the past case after they gained some info from Seo Hee. The latter herself has already been charged and was sentenced to probation for illegal drug use. Not only that, the case also garnered attention after it was reported that former YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk butted in by threatening Seo Hee to lie to the police about the previous testimony.
Speaking of Yang Hyun Suk, it was also revealed that the case involving the music executive has been forwarded to prosecution. He is suspected of threatening the former idol trainee to revoke her statement about the drug case. At that time this happened, Seo Hee reversed her testimony and B.I was acquitted from all charges.
Soon after her testimony became publicised, B.I personally admitted to his fans that he obtained illegal drugs from acquaintance “A” and eventually departed from his group, iKON. B.I returned to promotions, approximately 2 years after leaving his old company YG Entertainment, as an artiste under 131LABEL, a subsidiary of IOK Company.
Earlier this month, B.I dropped his 1st full album titled “Waterfall”. However, the news elicited dividing remarks from the Korean media. In this case, the K-pop star has been heavily slammed for resuming his entertainment activities in the midst of the criminal charges related to his alleged drug abuse case.
Update (Wednesday, 9th June):
B.I’s home label has released an official statement after reports about his indictment came to light. In the statement, the company apologised for releasing B.I’s album while he was still awaiting a decision in his case.
They also explained that they decided to move forward with the album release (including the pre-release single “Midnight Blue”), since all of the proceeds will be donated to charity.
Good PR move, no?
Source: AllKpop.
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