Q
I'm Australian, visiting Korea for two weeks. A Korean friend from years ago picked me up in Busan; we were stopped at a checkpoint, and officers searched the car after he behaved strangely. They found a small bag of what they said was methamphetamine in the glovebox and a pipe under his seat. We were both taken to the station. I was questioned for hours through an interpreter, gave a urine sample voluntarily — I've never used anything — and released, but they kept my passport "pending the result" and told me I'm a "co-suspect."
I've been staying in a hotel for three days waiting. My friend is still being held.
I need to know: (1) Can a passenger be charged with possession of drugs found in the driver's car in Korea? (2) Does my clean urine test end this, and when do I get my passport back? (3) If my friend says something about me to help himself, what happens?
A Answer
A passenger can be charged with possession of drugs in a car only where the evidence shows he had control over them — that he knew they were there and could exercise possession — and a bag in the driver's glovebox, with the driver's pipe under the driver's seat, points at the driver. Being present is not possession under Korean law, and the police know that; "co-suspect" is the status of everyone in a vehicle at the moment of a find, before the sorting. Your clean urine test is the sorting. It does not formally "end" the case, but it removes the only evidence a passenger case could have rested on, and it is the basis for having your passport released. Your friend's statements about you, if any, would be tested against that same test and against the physical evidence, which does not support them.
What this is under Korean law
Possession of methamphetamine is an offense under Article 60 of the Narcotics Control Act (마약류관리법, mayangnyu gwalli-beop) — up to ten years' imprisonment or a fine of up to KRW 100 million. Possession requires factual control with knowledge; Korean courts do not impute possession from mere presence in a place where a substance is found, and for a vehicle, the driver's ownership and control of the vehicle, the location of the substance in the driver's compartments, and the driver's paraphernalia are the facts that locate possession. A passenger who did not know, did not touch and did not use is not in possession. The police must prove otherwise; you do not have to prove a negative.
The test and the passport
Your voluntary urine test is the strongest thing in your file, because a passenger who had been sharing the driver's methamphetamine would test positive. A negative result, which for methamphetamine urine testing covers use in the preceding days, is consistent only with your account. Once it is in, counsel can put it to the investigator with a written statement and request that your passport be returned and any departure suspension (출국정지, chulguk jeongji) request be withdrawn. The passport is being held as a practical way of ensuring you remain; the legal instrument is the suspension, and the answer to both is the same document. If the police wish to exclude longer-term use, a hair test is available and, for you, is a further exit rather than a risk.
Your friend
He is a suspect in a methamphetamine possession and use case, detained, and under pressure. Suspects in that position sometimes shift responsibility; "the passenger's bag" is a story investigators hear. It fails against the physical evidence — his glovebox, his pipe — and against your test, and it fails harder if your account has been consistent from the first interview. Do not contact him, do not contact his family, and do not respond to any message from anyone on his behalf; a passenger who is "coordinating" with the driver becomes a co-suspect in a real sense.
Your situation as a foreign visitor
You are entitled to an interpreter and counsel; your first interview was through an interpreter, and a statement given that way should be reviewed by counsel for accuracy. Consular notification applies if you are detained; as a released suspect you may contact the Australian consulate yourself and should tell them your situation. If the case against you closes with a non-referral (불송치, bulsongchi), there is no record and no immigration consequence; your next entry to Korea is unaffected. MEGA X handles the criminal side.
What to do now, and what not to do
Retain counsel today and have the test result and a written statement put to the investigator. Do not extend your stay indefinitely "waiting"; a lawyer's letter converts waiting into a request with a timeline. Do not discuss the case with the hotel, other travelers or online. Keep every receipt for the extra nights; they are relevant if the matter ends as it should.
From a former police investigator's perspective
Checkpoint finds produce two names, and investigators sort them by test, by where the drugs were, and by who owns the paraphernalia. A passenger with a negative test, no contact with the driver since, and a lawyer asking for the passport is a name the investigator removes from the file with a sentence. A passenger who sits in a hotel for a week and says nothing is a name that stays on it, because nobody has asked him to take it off.
Contact us today — text consultation or +82-2-522-3959.
— MEGA X Law Firm Korea, Criminal Defense Team
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