‘Staggering with Head Down’: Suspected Drug Videos Spread from Suwon to Incheon and Gimpo... Police Urge Caution in Sharing

Suwon Drug Suspicion Case: Negative Drug Test Result

"Concerns Over Defamation and Public Anxiety"

Following the ‘Suwon drug suspicion video’, concerns have been raised that a series of other videos suspected of drug use, with unconfirmed facts, are being uploaded on social media (SNS), which could heighten public anxiety.

A video suspected of depicting drugs uploaded on social media (SNS). Screenshot from SNS

According to Yonhap News Agency on the 27th, a video showing a man staggering was shared on SNS on the 23rd, with the caption, “A video sent by an acquaintance who lives near Incheon.”

In the video, the man dressed in black was standing unsteadily in front of a building elevator, leaning against the wall with his head down. Around the same time, another citizen uploaded a video showing a pedestrian staggering around on the streets of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.

Previously, a video was posted near a bus stop in an apartment complex in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon, showing a man standing for a long time with a hunched back and both arms hanging down, which led to suspicions of drug use.

In the video taken by a witness passing by at the time, the man identified as A was standing with his back bent and both arms dangling down. His body was leaning left, and he swayed slightly from side to side but reportedly did not react much to the movements of people around him. Witnesses stated that A remained in this condition for more than 10 minutes.

As a result of the police investigation, A, the man in his 30s shown in the video, denied the allegations, claiming, “I was standing like that because I didn’t have any strength in my body.” He was urgently arrested after testing positive for methamphetamine in a preliminary drug test, but was released after the first preliminary analysis by the National Forensic Service returned a negative result.

The police pointed out that it is difficult to conclusively determine drug use solely based on someone staggering or assuming a certain posture, and warned that sharing unverified videos on SNS or online communities could damage the reputation of those involved or increase public anxiety.

In fact, it has been confirmed that there have been no reports or specific cases identified related to suspected drug posts in the Incheon and Gimpo areas.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, a police official stated, “Neither the Incheon nor Gimpo videos have been identified as drug-related cases,” and added, “It is advisable to refrain from indiscriminately sharing inaccurate information.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.