My daughter is a military dependent and was arrested at a club in Korea with MDMA — who has jurisdiction, Korea or the US?

Both — and the Korean lawyer first, because the case is in a Korean police station. Your assumption was reasonable and it is wrong: under the US–Korea SOFA, Korea has primary jurisdiction over offenses committed by dependents that violate Korean law, and drug offenses are among the categories where Korea customarily keeps a case rather than waiving it to the US. Korean law treats MDMA possession as a serious felony, but "a few pills," a first offense and a cooperative response put her at the lower end of what the courts actually do. She is not in prison; keeping it that way starts now.

What this is under Korean law

MDMA is a controlled psychotropic substance under the Narcotics Control Act (마약류관리법, mayangnyu gwalli-beop). Possession or use of a substance in its category carries up to ten years' imprisonment or a fine of up to KRW 100 million. There is no "small quantity" carve-out in the statute. In practice, first-time possession or use cases without distribution often end in a suspended sentence, sometimes a suspension of indictment (기소유예, giso yuye) conditioned on treatment education; those are ranges, and the police will look hard at whether "a few pills" was for her or for others.

SOFA: who decides, and who holds her

The SOFA criminal jurisdiction provisions cover servicemembers, the civilian component and their dependents. Where an offense violates Korean law and is not connected to official duty, Korea has the primary right to exercise jurisdiction. The US may request a waiver, and Korea has historically waived a large share of cases — but under the agreed arrangements, drug offenses are among the enumerated categories where Korea generally retains the case. You should expect a Korean investigation, a Korean prosecutor, and, if indicted, a Korean court.

Custody is the part SOFA does protect. Under the agreement, the US ordinarily retains custody of an accused member or dependent until the Korean prosecutor indicts; for certain grave categories Korea may take custody earlier, and for the enumerated categories at indictment. That is why she is home. It is also why the case being handled well before indictment matters: a prosecutor who sees a cooperative, represented, first-offense dependent has less reason to seek detention at that stage.

She is entitled to an interpreter at every Korean interview, and a US official may attend as an observer. Observers do not defend; her Korean counsel does.

How the process works in Korea

The police complete the investigation — the substance is tested, her phone is likely examined, her statement is taken — and refer the case to the prosecutor (송치, songchi). The prosecutor decides between indictment, a suspension of indictment, or, rarely in drug cases, nothing. A first-offense possession case that is indicted typically goes to a single hearing and a suspended sentence. A drug-education program completed voluntarily before that decision is one of the few things a defendant can do that prosecutors consistently credit.

Her situation as a foreign national

SOFA status means Korean immigration is not, at this stage, the body deciding whether she stays; the command's sponsorship review is. A conviction — including a suspended sentence — is a criminal record Korean authorities can see on any future entry outside SOFA status, and drug offenses appear among the grounds for entry refusal and deportation review under the Immigration Act. Those decisions belong to the Immigration Office and, on the US side, to the command; we do not predict them. MEGA X handles the Korean criminal case; where it touches status on either side, we coordinate with the appropriate specialist as part of the defense.

What to do now, and what not to do

Retain Korean counsel before her next interview. Preserve her phone as it is; deleting anything now is worse than whatever is on it. Do not let her discuss the case with friends who were there; they are witnesses. Have her begin a drug-education or counseling program this week and keep the enrollment records. Use the installation's legal assistance office for the sponsorship and command side; understand that it does not represent her in the Korean case. Prepare her account with her Korean lawyer before she speaks again.

From a former police investigator's perspective

Club drug arrests are triage cases for Korean investigators: they are sorting users from suppliers, and a dependent with a few pills is being asked, through her phone and her messages, whether she bought for herself or brought for the group. Quantity, packaging, cash, and chats about "who wants" are what move a file from use to distribution. A young woman who is represented, whose phone tells a simple story, and who has already enrolled in a program is a file the prosecutor can resolve without a trial. A family that assumed SOFA would make it go away is the file that surprises everyone at indictment.

We have handled cases for SOFA families and can meet her, with a parent, before the next summons — text consultation or +82-2-522-3959.

— Hyeonghwan Chon, Managing Partner, MEGA X Law Firm Korea