Skin care company reported for illegal medical practice cleared of charges

The owner of a skin care company in Busan, in his 30s, was investigated by the police following a report that he was illegally performing skin procedures that only medical professionals can do, but was cleared of charges due to insufficient evidence.

According to the legal community on the 2nd, the Busan Yeonje Police Station decided not to send Mr. A, in his 30s, who was booked on charges of violating the medical law last May. Mr. A has been running a skin care business since September of last year and was accused of performing skin treatments on customers using a device with a 0.2 mm long needle. Mr. A was investigated by the district office and police in February of this year when someone reported to the district office that “the store run by Mr. A is performing skin treatments that only medical professionals can perform and is advertising this on social media.”

Under current law, skin procedures are classified as medical practices, and practicing medicine without a license is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to 50 million won.

During the police investigation, Mr. A claimed, “There was no medical practice performed in the store, and the district office crackdown concluded that the device in question was not illegal.” As a result of the investigation, the police also determined that the device used by Mr. A could not be conclusively determined to be medical, and thus could not be considered as having performed medical treatment using this device.

Attorney Son Yoon-jeong of Daeryun Law Firm, who is Mr. A's legal representative, explained, "Not only as a result of the district office crackdown, but also the public health center that applies the medical law did not conduct an on-site crackdown because the device used by Mr. A was judged not to be a medical device. Also, the same type of device as the device used by Mr. A is classified as a home skin care device and can be purchased by anyone online. By submitting such data, we were able to receive a not guilty verdict due to insufficient evidence."

Reporter Jeong Cheol-wook

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Skin care company not charged with illegal medical practice (go)