Here's everything you need to know about the famous girl group member who was fined for alleged propofol abuse

A surgeon was the one who illegally administered this substance to the K-Pop artist.

By Pinkvilla Desk

Updated on Jul 01, 2021 | 05:27 PM IST | 1.2M

Ga In at an event; courtesy of News1.

On June 25, the Suwon District Court's Criminal Case Division 3 in South Korea handed down a sentence against a very famous K-Pop idol accused of the illegal use of propofol as a drug, and the doctor who administered the drug illegally. The Korean artist was found guilty after a long investigation, which concluded with a search and seizure of her house by the police, who were alerted that she was illegally consuming propofol. During the inquiry, the K-pop artist denied having bought the drug from the 70-year-old surgeon in Seoul, saying, "I thought it was for treatment."

The plastic surgeon in his 70s has been imprisoned. The doctor was sentenced to a year and six months in prison with a fine of 3 million KRW as in the original trial and an additional 9.2 million KRW for violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, violating the Narcotics Management Act, and the Medical Act.

The plastic surgeon sold the K-Pop star 3 boxes of etomidate (10 ampoules of 10 ml per box) at his plastic surgery clinic in June last year for 1.5 million KRW. From October 2019 to this period, he was charged with selling 490 of this medicine worth 24.5 million KRW on 21 occasions.

Etomidate short-acting intravenous anaesthetic agent is used for the induction of general anaesthesia and sedation for short procedures like reduction of dislocated joints. Since it is not designated as a narcotic drug, the surgeon was not charged. The K-Pop girl group member who stated that she thought it was for treatment, was not punished due to insufficient evidence. Separately, however, she was arrested on charges of administering propofol between July and August 2019, and was briefly prosecuted with a fine of 1 million Won.

The tragic death of pop icon Michael Jackson in 2009 brought the abuse of propofol by the general public into the spotlight. Since then, many countries agree that propofol should be subject to stricter control. However, misuse is not a real problem in those countries. They are concerned that stricter control of propofol would involve an increased administrative load. South Korea is the first, and perhaps only, country to classify propofol as a controlled substance.

The name of the artist was reserved, but after the investigation her name came to light. Brown Eyed Girls’ maknae Gain (Son Ga In) was reportedly one of four people who came into contact with and were sold propofol by the plastic surgeon. On July 1, her agency, Mystic Story, released an official statement to apologise for their artist's use of propofol. "Although Ga In and the agency recognize that it was not a socially upright action, we bow our heads in apology for not apologizing earlier and causing more concern with the sudden news. "

Second generation K-pop idol, Gain, is a member of the successful four-member group Brown Eyed Girls.