Actress Kim Bu-seon is fighting an uphill battle to get the ban on marijuana lifted but she appears to be getting a glimmering of support.
Jeon In-kwon, a famous rock singer, told a concert audience which included the actress, this week that any entertainers who disagreed with Kim's argument are "foolish".
Kim, who won popularity for starring in a series of erotic movies in the 1980s, made headlines for attempting to jump off from her fifth-floor apartment in July before she was arrested for smoking marijuana.
She was later sentenced to a suspended jail term of two years. It was the fifth time the 43-year-old actress had been punished for puffing the prohibited plant since December 2000.
The court set her free on a bail of 3 million won, taking into account her casting for a movie to be promoted up soon.
The actress made a successful comeback earlier this year by enacting a small restaurant owner trying to seduce a high school student in a movie titled, "Once Upon a Time in High School", after being left out of the screen for more than a decade.
Being released from jail, Kim expressed regret for being punished for smoking marijuana again.
But she became less remorseful, filing an appeal to a court in Suwon last week, saying the sentencing was excessive for what she did. The actress went further Tuesday, submitting a petition to the same court to ask for a judgment on whether the law on narcotics, which regards marijuana as an illegal substance, is constitutionally acceptable.
"Banning marijuana infringes on the right to pursue happiness, which is guaranteed by the Constitution", Kim said in a meeting with reporters after filing the petition. She pledged if the court rejected it, she would take the case to the Constitutional Court.
She insisted that marijuana does lower degree of harm to the body and none to the society - in comparison with cigarettes and alcohol - and that it is not a hallucinogenic drug.
The actress also said she wished that marijuana would be made legal because she has found marijuana can be a useful treatment for heart disease and glaucoma, from which she is suffering.
Her lawyer Kim Sung-jin noted smoking or possessing a small amount of marijuana is exempted from punishment in an increasing number of countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Greece.
By Hwang You-mee
