My friend was arrested for drugs in Korea and my name and messages are in his phone — I leave the country in two weeks. Should I go, or wait to be contacted?

Nobody has contacted you, your visa expires in two weeks, and you have a lawful reason to leave on the day you planned — that combination matters, and it is different from leaving to avoid a summons that exists. But you have described real exposure: use in Korea is an offense, and messages asking a dealer for supply are evidence of at least an attempt to obtain. The question is not whether to leave; it is whether to leave with a plan or with a hope. A lawyer can find out, discreetly, whether an investigation has reached you, and can put in place what turns a possible future warrant into a manageable file. That takes days, not weeks.

What this is under Korean law

Use of cannabis in Korea is an offense under the Narcotics Control Act (마약류관리법, mayangnyu gwalli-beop), up to five years' imprisonment or a fine of up to KRW 50 million; purchase and possession are the same range. Asking someone to obtain cannabis, where nothing was delivered, may be examined as an attempt or as preparatory conduct; Korean law punishes attempts for many narcotics offenses, and investigators read "can you get any" with that in mind. Your two uses at gatherings are offenses on their own, and a hair test can detect use for months.

Your friend's case is possession; investigators will look at his phone for suppliers and buyers. A name with a request message is a lead. Whether it becomes a summons depends on their priorities and their view of your role.

How the process works in Korea

If the police decide to question you, they issue a request to attend for a voluntary interview (임의수사, imui susa), typically by phone or message, sometimes by mail to your registered address. If you have left Korea by then, they cannot compel your attendance abroad. What they can do is record the case as suspended (기소중지, giso jungji) with you as an unavailable suspect, place a flag on your entry, and — where the evidence supports a charge — seek a warrant that is executed on your next arrival. That is the "list" you asked about: a file that reactivates when you land at Incheon in five years for a holiday, arrested at passport control.

If they do not decide to question you, nothing happens and your departure is simply your departure. Which of those futures you have is knowable, to a degree, now.

Your situation as a foreign national

Because you are not currently a suspect, there is no departure suspension (출국정지, chulguk jeongji); one can only be imposed on a person under investigation. That is the practical case for engaging counsel now rather than waiting: a lawyer can make a discreet inquiry about whether your name has been referred, and — if it has, or if it is likely — can arrange a voluntary interview before your flight, with counsel and an interpreter, so that your account is on file, your address abroad is on record, and the case can be resolved by the police and prosecutor in your absence rather than suspended. First-time use cases with cooperation frequently end in a suspension of indictment (기소유예, giso yuye) or a fine that can be paid from abroad; a suspended file with a warrant is worse than either.

On your entry to Korea later: a drug conviction is a ground for entry refusal under the Immigration Act; a resolved case with a suspension of indictment is not a conviction. A suspended case is an open flag. Immigration outcomes are the Immigration Office's; the criminal outcome is what shapes them. MEGA X handles the criminal case.

What to do now, and what not to do

Do not message your friend or anyone in the group chats about the arrest or about "deleting stuff"; those messages are the ones that turn a peripheral name into an obstruction problem. Do not delete anything yourself. Do not use. Do write down, for your lawyer only, the two occasions, the request messages, and the fact that nothing was purchased. Then let counsel find out where you stand. If the answer is "nowhere," you fly. If the answer is "on a list," you fix it before you fly.

From a former police investigator's perspective

When a dealer's phone is seized, investigators triage the contacts: buyers with completed transactions first, then the rest. A name with an unfulfilled request and no transaction is low on the list, and a foreign contact whose visa is expiring is often left to expire — unless a hair test on the dealer's other contacts pulls the thread. What investigators dislike is a suspect who could have been interviewed and simply left; that is the file they suspend with a warrant, because it costs them nothing. A contact who came in voluntarily, with a lawyer, before leaving, is a file they close, because it costs them nothing either.

Two weeks is enough to know. Contact us this week — text consultation or +82-2-522-3959.

— MEGA X Law Firm Korea, Criminal Defense Team