Kim Gam-jeon (Kim Sang-min) [YouTube capture]
Kim Gam-jeon (Kim Sang-min) [YouTube capture]

Kim Gam-jeon (stage name for Kim Sang-min, whose full stage name translates as "Kim Sang-min dares to call himself a legend"), a rapper signed to Indigo Music — the agency headed by fellow rapper Swings — partially acknowledged charges that he sold cannabis to a minor.

The 12th Criminal Division of the Seoul Western District Court held the first hearing Tuesday in the case against Kim, who was indicted on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act while in detention.

Kim, who has at least two prior drug convictions, was indicted on charges of selling liquid cannabis cartridges to a minor for 450,000 won ($332) each between last December and March. He also faces a separate charge of giving the same minor one liquid cannabis cartridge free of charge in March. Additional charges allege he received cannabis at no cost from an unidentified person at a Seoul club in August, and that he possessed and smoked cannabis in September.

At the hearing, Kim's defense attorney acknowledged only part of the charges. "We admit that cannabis was transferred and provided to a minor, but we deny that our client knew the recipient was a minor at the time," the attorney said.

On the charge of providing a liquid cannabis cartridge free of charge, the defense argued that Kim had not supplied a new cartridge — rather, the minor had brought back a cartridge received on a previous occasion and then taken it away again.

This marks Kim's third cannabis-related offense, and because the alleged crimes were committed while he was serving a suspended sentence, a prison term appears unavoidable. He had been charged with smoking cannabis with an acquaintance in a Seoul parking lot in May 2024 and was sentenced to eight months in prison in December of that year, taken into custody in the courtroom. He had previously received a deferred indictment for a similar offense, only to reoffend and receive an actual prison term. An appeals court reduced his sentence to eight months with a two-year suspension in April last year, and he was released.

Kim joined Indigo Music in 2022, the agency Swings founded and leads.


paq@heraldcorp.com