Late President Chun Doo Hwan's grandson indicted for drug use

Chun Woo-won, grandson of the late former President Chun Doo Hwan, attends a 1980 Gwangju Uprising event in Gwangju on May 27. [YONHAP]

Chun Woo-won, the grandson of the late former President Chun Doo Hwan, was indicted on a charge of drug use.

The Seoul Central District Proseuctors' Office's indictment on Thursday comes six months after Chun Woo-won's return to Seoul from New York, where he made accusations against his family in a live stream on social media.

In one of the videos uploaded on March 17, Chun Woo-won took pills, saying they were Ecstasy and DMT, a hallucinogenic substance known as Dimethyltryptamine.

Chun Woo-won was arrested on his arrival at Incheon International Airport on March 28, where the police also conducted drug tests.

The grandson, who admitted to using drugs, was released the following day.

The police referred the case to the prosecutors on April 28, and he was summoned for questioning in June.

Chun Woo-won has been estranged from his family since he made his accusations against his family on social media in March.

Among his allegations was the claim that his grandfather's slush funds were hidden in a secret room. He also accused his family of laundering money through shares in an unlisted IT company and a winery in California.

Chun Woo-won went further by sharing a photo that appeared to depict his grandmother, Lee Soon-ja, playing screen golf in what he said was his grandparents' home in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun District, in western Seoul.

"It seems our family, who had committed a massacre, lives without guilt under the protection of the law," Chun Woo-won said in one of the live streams.

Chun Doo Hwan deployed troops to suppress the Gwangju Uprising in 1980.

During the 10 days of the uprising, 193 people died, 65 individuals still unaccounted for, and nearly 1,600 others were arrested or tortured.

Chun Woo-won immediately traveled down to Gwangju after his release, where he met with surviving family members of the Gwangju Uprising victims.

He apologized in front of the tombs of those who died during the movement.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]