Hwang Ha-na, granddaughter of Namyang Dairy Products founder, freed after receiving fine in drug case

Hwang Ha-na, 37, a granddaughter of the founder of Namyang Dairy Products, was sentenced to a fine and released Thursday after a court found her guilty of administering methamphetamine to acquaintances. Despite a prior prison term for a similar offense, the court opted for a fine over imprisonment, citing the circumstances of the crime and the small quantity of drugs involved.

Judge Park Jun-seop of the Anyang Branch of Suwon District Court sentenced Hwang to a fine of 40 million won ($26,500) and ordered the forfeiture of 20,000 won on charges of violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics.

"Although the defendant reoffended shortly after completing a prison sentence for the same type of crime, the relative seriousness of the offense is not great, given that she administered the drug at the request of an acquaintance and that the amount of methamphetamine used was comparatively small," Judge Park said in his ruling.

He added that he had also considered that her departure overseas after the investigation began appeared to be an attempt to escape public attention and pressure rather than to evade the probe, and that she had not used the remaining methamphetamine on herself after administering it to her acquaintance.

After the court ordered her release at the conclusion of the trial, Hwang covered her face with both hands and wiped away tears.

Hwang was indicted in custody on charges of encouraging two acquaintances to use methamphetamine and injecting them with the drug at an apartment in Gangnam, Seoul, in July 2023.

After the investigation began, Hwang left for Thailand in December 2023. She later illegally entered Cambodia and remained there without returning to South Korea, even after learning that her passport had been invalidated and an Interpol red notice had been issued against her.

A turning point came in late 2025 when she expressed her intention to turn herself in. Police traveled to Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia, arrested Hwang aboard a Korean Air flight and escorted her back to South Korea.

Hwang has a lengthy record of drug-related convictions. She was charged with drug use in 2015 and sentenced in 2019 to one year in prison, suspended for two years. She was subsequently tried again for using drugs during the probationary period and in 2022 received a final Supreme Court sentence of one year and eight months in prison.

The ruling has drawn attention as a case in which a fine was imposed despite prior convictions for the same type of offense and a period of flight abroad, with the court weighing the specific circumstances, scale and aftermath of the crime. Should prosecutors appeal, however, the appropriateness of the sentence could be revisited at the appellate level.