[Captured from Psy's Facebook]
[Captured from Psy's Facebook]

Singer Psy, whose legal name is Park Jae-sang, has been summarily indicted on charges of obtaining prescriptions for psychotropic drugs without in-person consultations and having a manager and others pick up the medications on his behalf.

According to legal sources Wednesday, the Seoul Western District Prosecutors Office summarily indicted Psy and a professor at a Seoul university hospital, identified only as A, on July 22 on charges of violating the Medical Service Act.

A summary indictment is used in relatively minor cases: prosecutors request a fine through a summary order, and the case is decided on documents alone with no separate trial. The case can be converted to a full trial at the discretion of the court, the defendant or the prosecutor.

However, the fine amounts sought against the two have not been confirmed.

Four other individuals referred to prosecutors alongside them — including medical staff and a manager — received deferred prosecution. Deferred prosecution means the facts of the alleged offense are acknowledged, but prosecutors decide not to bring the case to trial after considering the circumstances and outcome of the conduct.

Psy is accused of obtaining prescriptions for psychotropic drugs used as sleep aids from a Seoul university hospital without in-person consultations from 2022 through last year, and having a manager and other third parties collect the medications on his behalf.

The drugs Psy is alleged to have been prescribed — Xanax and Stilnox — are psychotropic medications used to treat sleep disorders, anxiety disorders and depression.

Because of their potential for misuse, in-person consultations and prescriptions are the standard requirement for such drugs. Obtaining them without an in-person visit can constitute a violation of Article 33 of the Medical Service Act, which mandates in-person medical care as the rule, and carries a fine of up to 5 million won ($3,620).

Earlier, singer MC Mong — whose legal name is Shin Dong-hyun — was cleared by police on Aug. 18 after investigators found insufficient evidence to support allegations that he had received sleep medication through a proxy prescription.

Police reached that conclusion after reviewing statements obtained through an investigation of the accused and the results of a forensic analysis conducted by the National Forensic Service.

The case began in January when a media outlet reported allegations that MC Mong had received proxy prescriptions for zolpidem, a sleep medication. The report included a recording of a phone call in which MC Mong's former manager appeared to say he had collected the drugs under his own name and handed them over to MC Mong, saying, "I got them all and just gave them to you — under my name."

Following the report, former Korean Medical Association President Lim Hyun-taek filed a complaint against MC Mong, triggering the investigation.


paq@heraldcorp.com