Broadcaster Jeon Hyun-moo, SHINee members Key and Onew, and YouTuber Ipjjalbeun Haetnim are among the celebrities summoned and questioned by police in connection with the so-called "Injection Aunt" case, in which a woman faces allegations of performing illegal medical procedures on broadcaster Park Na-rae.
According to police Wednesday, the Gangnam Police Station conducted a search and seizure of the suspect's home and other locations earlier this year to investigate the allegations against the woman known as "Injection Aunt." Police summoned Park for questioning in May, then called in Jeon, Key, Onew and Ipjjalbeun Haetnim one by one between June and last month.
Investigators pressed each of them on whether they knew the woman was not a licensed medical professional.
The suspect is accused of administering intravenous drips and prescribing antidepressants to Park and others in an officetel and inside a vehicle, despite holding no medical license in South Korea.
Under current law, anyone who performs medical procedures without a license or qualification is subject to criminal punishment. Those who received such procedures could also face charges as accomplices if they knowingly and actively sought out the unlicensed treatment.
Park, Key and Ipjjalbeun Haetnim have each acknowledged receiving treatment from the woman but said they believed she was a licensed physician.
Jeon came under scrutiny after footage from a 2016 broadcast — showing him receiving an intravenous drip inside a vehicle — resurfaced late last year when the "Injection Aunt" allegations first emerged, leading to a criminal complaint being filed against him.
Jeon's representatives said at the time that the treatment had been entirely lawful, and released copies of his medical records from nine years ago to support the claim. The records showed he had been diagnosed with gastritis, acute tonsillitis and bronchitis, and had been prescribed intravenous fluids and oral medication. The disclosure also included a prescription for Embix 100, an erectile dysfunction drug — a detail Jeon chose to make public to underscore that no illegal medication had been involved. The candid release of such sensitive personal information appeared to generate a wave of public sympathy toward him.
paq@heraldcorp.com
