Kim Boo-seon (김부선)

By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Actress Kim Boo-seon's calls on national TV for marijuana use to be legalized are causing a public uproar.

In a pre-recorded interview on MBC's live morning show on Friday, the 46-year-old, who has advocated the legalization of the drug, said, "Marijuana is not a narcotic; it is technically an Oriental herbal medicine which Koreans have used for 5,000 years".

Kim, who has been arrested for marijuana use several times, launched a campaign for the drug's legalization in 2004 after being sentenced to a suspended jail term. She then filed a petition with the Constitutional Court for a revie...More

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Several More Top Entertainers on List of Suspects

Police are expanding their investigation into the smuggling and use of drugs involving movie stars and models.

In the latest drug bust of entertainers, police booked popular film star Joo Ji-hoon, 27, on suspicion of drug use and arrest warrants were sought for actress Yoon Seol-hee, 28, and model Ye Hak-yeong, 26, for alleged smuggling ecstasy tablets and ketamine into the country from Japan. Two other residents were booked on similar suspicions.

"Besides the suspects on the list we have secured, there are likely more, given the amount of drugs smuggled. Further investigations are unavoidable", an officer of the Seoul Metropolitan Policy Agency said.

Police officiers said the entertainers appear to have been tempted to use drugs on assumption that that ecstasy and other drugs kill the appetite, helping them reduce their weight. Ecstasy is a mildly hallucinogenic amphetamine and the most popular illegal drug in Korea, while ke...More

More than a month has passed since the death of actress Choi Jin-sil but tongues are still wagging.

Former pro baseball player Cho Sung-min, whom Choi married in 2002 and divorced in 2004, has been demanding that his parental and property rights be reinstated. Cho gave up custodial rights for his kids after he got divorced.

Some activists, mostly female, are mad. Actresses Son Sook and Kim Boo-seon, TV host and single mom Heo Soo-kyung plus actor ...More

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Actress Kim Boo-seon will serve as a goodwill ambassador to publicize the tentatively titled New Progressive Party (NPP), alongside photographer Lee Sang-youp and novelist Kim Tak-hwan.

Kim made a name for herself in the 1980s appearing in soft-core pornographic movies such as "Ae-ma Woman 3". She made a return to the entertainment industry with the movie "Spirit of Jeet Kune Do" ("Once Upon A Time In Highschool") and the drama "Phoenix" in 2004. However, she was charged with smoking marijuana and placed on probation.

Kim now campaigns for the decriminalization of marijuana use in Korea, which is receiving mixed responses from supporters of the NPP.

Lee is a renowned documentary photographer...More

March 10, 2005 ㅡ Actress Kim Boo-seon was hardly the talk of the town until recently. As a soft-core pornography actress who hit her peak in the 1980s, Ms. Kim, now 44, seemed to be past her prime. She has served several jail sentences for drug use and also suffered from the social stigma of being a single mother after she had an affair with a married man.
With the passage of time, however, the baby girl became a teenager, and last year Ms. Kim made a long-awaited comeback. Featured in a small but impressive role in "Once Upon a Time in High School" as a middle-aged snack bar lady who seduces a high school student, Ms. Kim began to regain her charismatic presence on screen.
She cemented that recognition by starring in a TV drama, "Fire Bird", which attained a high audience rating. What she's best known for at the moment, however, is not her acting. It's her fight to legalize marijuana in Korea.
She has a personal reason for speaking out on the issue. Last year, in the middle of resuming her career, Ms. Kim again made waves in the local press because of another arrest for smoking marijuana. Pictures of her desperately fleeing a house as the police searched it were all over the local magazines and tabloids. She was sentenced to eight months in prison and two years of house arrest.
Ms. Kim, however, has long in...More