Goong's Crown Prince Shin in drug scandal

Clutch the pearls!

In news that wouldn't raise many eyebrows if we were talking about his American counterparts, fantastically man-pretty Goong actor Joo Ji-hoon has been charged with drug use (of Ecstasy and Ketamine), and the resulting scandal is turning into a big ol' mess for the Korean entertainment world.

Despite his undeniable hotness, I don't really care about Joo Ji-hoon one way or another, but I have been fascinated by the public response to this event. Just how high are the standards for celebrity behavior in Korea, anyway? I've always been a little taken aback by the "no public relationships" thing expected of K-drama actors, but I guess I thought that was a calculated move on the part of the stars' management—an attempt to create an illusion of availability. (Teen girls might shell out big money to attend a fan-meeting if they think their favorite star is free from emotional entanglements, and therefore more likely to fall in love with them.) I didn’t realize drug use—and comparatively mild drug use*, at that—would cause such utter condemnation, but people are coming down on this dude like a load of bricks. It's certainly a different (and interesting) cultural perspective.

*Please don’t send me nasty e-mails about this comment. I am NOT excusing any form of drug use, and Ecstasy and Ketamine are real, scary, potentially life-destroying drugs. But from the public response, you’d think Joo was a hardcore junkie, shooting up his tear ducts or something.