Actor Yoo admits to smoking marijuana in first court hearing

Actor Yoo Ah-in on Tuesday admitted to some of his charges, including smoking marijuana, in his first court appearance after being indicted in October for habitually using illegal drugs.

The 37-year-old actor, whose legal name is Uhm Hong-sik, said he admits to smoking marijuana in the trial at the Seoul Central District Court. But he denied the charge of using an excessive amount of propofol, a controlled substance, saying many parts of his indictment are different from the facts.

Yoo is accused of getting injections of propofol and other medical drugs on 181 occasions at clinics across Seoul between 2020 and 2022 under the pretext of having cosmetic procedures. He reportedly took 9,635.7 ml of propofol, 567 mg of midazolam, 11.5 ml of ketamine, and 200 mg of remimazolam.

The actor is also charged with allegedly using other people’s names to illegally purchase some 1,100 sleeping pills on 44 occasions, smoking marijuana with four people and coercing others to take the narcotics.

Yoo’s lawyer said at the trial that some of the propofol-related contents in the indictment differ from the facts and are somewhat exaggerated.

The actor offered an apology for “causing concern to many people” before entering the courtroom.