Namyang Dairy Heiress Hwang Hana Gets Fine, Suspended Sentence for Drug Offenses

Hwang Hana, the granddaughter of Namyang Dairy's founder, has been sentenced to a fine of 40 million won (approximately $30,000 USD) and released from custody after being convicted of drug charges. The court also ordered her to pay a 20,000 won forfeiture.

The court cited several factors in its decision, including that Hwang administered the drugs at the request of an acquaintance and that the quantity of methamphetamine involved was relatively small. The court also noted that her flight overseas after the investigation began appeared to be an attempt to escape social pressure rather than evade the investigation itself. Additionally, it was considered that she did not use the remaining methamphetamine after administering it to her acquaintance.

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The defendant committed the crime again shortly after serving a prison sentence for a similar offense, but considering that she administered the drug at the request of an acquaintance and the relatively small amount of methamphetamine used, the severity of the crime is not significantly high.

Hwang was indicted in January for allegedly administering methamphetamine to two acquaintances at an apartment in Seoul in July of the previous year. Following the start of the investigation, she fled the country and was eventually arrested in Cambodia after voluntarily expressing her intent to return.

This is not Hwang's first encounter with the law regarding drug use. She previously received a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, in 2019 for using methamphetamine three times between May and September 2015. She was later re-indicted and sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison for using drugs again during her probation period.

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Her flight overseas after the investigation began was not for the purpose of evading the investigation but rather to escape social attention and pressure.