A YouTuber who tattooed a drug-selling Telegram account on the forehead to advertise it has been arrested.
According to legal sources, the Seoul Southern District Court issued an arrest warrant on the 13th after a pretrial detention hearing, saying there was a flight risk, for a YouTuber, a person surnamed Kim, 29, who is suspected of violating the Narcotics Control Act, among other charges.
Kim is suspected of tattooing on the forehead the phrase "Drug king villain Tele(gram) inquiries" and the account information, and receiving money in return.
Police began investigating after a tip was filed with the National Sinmungo in January saying, "There is a YouTuber who promotes drugs with a face tattoo." It was found that Kim was a YouTuber with about 7,000 subscribers. Kim was found to have received a promotion request from an operator of a drug-selling Telegram account, gotten the tattoo, and received revenue.
In September last year, Kim appeared in another YouTuber's video, showed the tattoo, and even said directly, "I got 5 million won for this." In particular, it became controversial that on the day Kim went to court for the warrant review, Kim also ran a live stream asking for support, saying, "I will not cause trouble again and will live diligently."
Kim reportedly tested negative in a preliminary drug reagent test.
Police plan to expand the investigation into the related organization, including the operator of the drug-selling Telegram account.