Big Bang’s G-Dragon booked on drug use charges

South Korean singer Kwon Ji-yong, aka G-Dragon, poses before the Chanel 2017 spring/summer Haute Couture collection on Jan. 24, 2017 in Paris. [Photo: Francois Guillot/Agence France-Presse]

G-Dragon, the leader of the renowned South Korean group Big Bang, has been booked on charges of drug use, according to reports from South Korean media outlets.

According to a report from Xports News via Naver, the Incheon police booked the musician, whose real name is Kwon Ji-yong, without detention on drug abuse charges.

The police reportedly identified G-Dragon through a compulsory inquiry as a result of the drug investigation involving actor Lee Sun-kyun, best known for his role on the Oscar-winning film “Parasite.”

However, authorities clarified that the two cases were unrelated and that additional details cannot be disclosed as the matter is still being investigated.

Reached for comment by Xports News, Big Bang’s original agency YG Entertainment said it was “difficult for [them] to respond officially since he is not an artist currently affiliated with [the] company.”

The statement marks the first time that the entertainment company publicly acknowledged G-Dragon’s official departure from its roster, following the expiry of the singer-songwriter’s exclusive contract this year.

This is not the first time that a member of the K-pop group had courted controversy. In July 2017, its rapper T.O.P received a 10-month suspended jail sentence for smoking marijuana multiple times in 2016, weeks after being hospitalized for drug overdose.

Meanwhile, the group’s youngest member, Seungri, was one of two idols mainly involved in the highly controversial Burning Sun scandal, in which he faced charges of prostitution, embezzlement of funds, and bribery, among others.