Don Spike to open pop-up at Incheon festival, pledging proceeds to drug recovery group

Composer and broadcaster Don Spike, whose real name is Kim Min-su, will open a pop-up store at a music festival in Incheon next month, about a year and a half after his release from prison on drug charges. He said a portion of the proceeds will go to a drug addiction recovery organization.

Don Spike announced Monday on his Instagram that his barbecue brand Low and Slow would participate in the EDC Festival at Inspire Resort in Incheon "this coming weekend."

"A portion of the sales proceeds will be donated to the Korea Drug Recovery Association, which works tirelessly for drug addiction recovery and rehabilitation," he said.

Don Spike was arrested in September 2022 at a hotel in Gangnam, Seoul, caught in the act of possessing and using methamphetamine. He was indicted on charges of purchasing methamphetamine worth 45 million won ($33,100) on nine occasions from late 2021 through the following year and using it 14 times. A lower court sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended for five years, but an appeals court handed down a two-year prison term, which the Supreme Court upheld in September 2023.

His prior record also came to light during the trial. Don Spike had been fined 5 million won after being found to have smoked marijuana at a studio in Seocho-gu, Seoul, between 2008 and 2009, and received a suspended sentence on marijuana charges in 2010.

After completing his sentence and being released in March last year, Don Spike announced on his Instagram on Sept. 21 that he was preparing to open a new restaurant in Gampo, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. He said the new venue would differ from his existing Texas-style barbecue restaurant Low and Slow, centering its menu on beef galbi and charcoal-grilled Korean beef cooked over a wood-fire grill.

Don Spike first made a name for himself as an arranger on MBC's "I Am a Singer" and ventured into the restaurant business in 2019 when he opened Low and Slow in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. In 2021, he announced he would stop composing to focus on running the restaurant.