Our daughter was detained at Incheon Airport with drugs in her luggage that she says she didn't know about — we're in the UK. What do we do first?

This is as serious as a criminal case gets in Korea: importing a kilogram of methamphetamine carries a sentence starting at years, not months, and the police holding her "for a long time" is a realistic description of pre-trial detention in a smuggling case. You should hear that plainly. You should also hear this: "I didn't know" is a real defense under Korean law, the courts have accepted it in courier cases where the evidence supported it, and the evidence that supports it is being created or lost right now — in her phone, in the messages with the man who packed the bag, and in the first statements she gives. Retaining Korean counsel today is the single most important thing you can do from the UK, and you can do it yourselves.

What this is under Korean law

Importing methamphetamine is an offense under the Narcotics Control Act (마약류관리법, mayangnyu gwalli-beop) and, for quantities of this scale, under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (특정범죄가중처벌법, teukjeong beomjoe gajung cheobeol-beop), which raises the range for large-quantity narcotics offenses to a minimum term of years and, at the top, life imprisonment. Courts have discretion within those ranges, and mitigating factors — no prior record, a minor role, cooperation — matter, but the floor is high.

Korean law requires intent. Intent includes the situation where a person did not know for certain but recognised the possibility and accepted it (미필적 고의, milpiljeok goui). That is where courier cases are fought: not "did she know," but "should she have suspected." A defendant who took a packed bag from a romantic acquaintance, with a story about a gift, is in the zone where the prosecution argues willful blindness and the defense argues manipulation. The outcome depends on what the messages show about what she was told and what she asked.

How the process works in Korea

Customs detected the package; the case is now a police investigation with the prosecutor closely involved. Within 48 hours of arrest, the prosecutor applies for a detention warrant (구속영장, gusok yeongjang) and a judge holds a hearing (영장실질심사, yeongjang siljil simsa). In a kilogram smuggling case, detention is the norm; the hearing still matters because counsel's first contact with the file happens there. Detention during investigation can run up to thirty days; after indictment, up to six months before the first-instance verdict. Trial in a contested smuggling case takes months and turns on the phone evidence, her statements, and any controlled-delivery or wider investigation into the recipient.

Her situation as a foreign national

She is entitled to an interpreter at every interview and to have the consulate notified under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention. The consulate can visit and can confirm her treatment; it cannot represent her, which is what they told you. Under Article 30 of the Criminal Procedure Act (형사소송법), a suspect's lineal relatives may appoint defense counsel independently — you can retain a lawyer for her from the UK today, without her signature. Counsel can visit her in detention (접견, jeopgyeon) without the restrictions that apply to family visits.

If she is convicted, removal from Korea after any sentence is served and a long entry ban follow, decided by the Immigration Office; that is for later. MEGA X handles the criminal case.

What to do now, and what not to do

In the next 48 hours: retain counsel; send counsel every message, photo, booking, and payment record between your daughter and the man — from her cloud accounts, her social media, anything you can access with her consent; preserve her travel history; do not contact the man or anyone connected to him; do not post about the case. Tell the consulate that counsel has been retained so visits and communication coordinate. Book travel to Seoul after the warrant hearing, not before; the hearing is counsel's work, and your presence matters more in the weeks after, when family visits and support are possible.

From a former police investigator's perspective

In courier cases, investigators are not deciding whether the story is plausible; they are deciding whether the evidence supports it. What they look for: whether she was paid, and how much; whether the messages show instructions about avoiding questions; whether she asked what was in the bag; whether her travel pattern matches a recruited courier's; and whether she can identify the recipient in Seoul. A young woman whose messages show a manipulated relationship and no payment is a different defendant from one who negotiated a fee — and investigators, who see both, know the difference. The messages must reach her lawyer before they are characterised by someone else.

We have represented foreign nationals in detention in Korea with families instructing from abroad. Call +82-2-522-3959 or use the text consultation form now; the warrant hearing is within days.

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