The arrest warrants for singer Nam Tae-hyun and broadcaster Seo Min-jae, who are under suspicion of using the drug Philopon, were rejected on the 18th.

Judge Song Kyung-ho of the Seoul Western District Court, who is in charge of the arrest warrants, conducted a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (a substantive warrant review) for the two on this day. He then stated, "Their residences are established, and it is difficult to see a risk of evidence destruction or escape," and rejected the arrest warrants.

Judge Song added, "At this stage, detention seems to be an excessive restriction on the right to defense."

The two are accused of using drugs around August of last year. Seo posted on his SNS (Social Network Service) around August last month, "Nam Tae-hyun did Philopon. And there is a used syringe in my room or company cabinet." The investigation began when netizens who saw this reported it to the police.

The Seoul Yongsan Police Station, which continued the investigation, applied for arrest warrants against them on the 15th on suspicion of violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics.

To receive the review on this day, Nam appeared at the Seoul Western District Court in Mapo-gu, Seoul, around 9:53 a.m. In response to the reporters' question, "Do you admit the allegations?", he briefly replied, "I'm sorry." He did not answer other questions such as 'When did you start using drugs?' and 'Did you use other drugs?', and went into the courtroom.

Seo also admitted the charges, saying, "I'm sorry."

Meanwhile, Nam was previously handed over to the prosecution on suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Act by driving under the influence last month. According to the police's alcohol measurement results at the time, Nam's blood alcohol concentration was 0.114%, which exceeded the license cancellation level (0.08%).

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