Recently Korean netizens were shocked by the news that BoA was investigated for violating import drug regulations.

It has been reported on December 17th that prosecutors questioned BoA the previous day for violating import drug regulations.  An employee of SM Entertainment's overseas branch is reported to have sent sleeping pills such as Zolpidem and other pills labeled miscellaneous from Japan to Korea. Because they did not follow proper clearance procedures, BoA and the employee were questioned by prosecutors. It has also been reported that the prescribed medication was under the employee's name, not BoA's. Neither BoA nor the employee is said to have been aware of formal import procedures.

After the incident, an official report has been made by SM Entertainment saying, "BoA recently took a prescribed sleeping pill after receiving a doctor's opinion that she needed sufficient sleep, but the side effects were severe. Recalling that the drugs prescribed for sleep disorders had no issues during Japan's activities, an employee of our overseas branch received the drugs through standard procedures after being checked at a local hospital, but he was not aware that the drugs prescribed overseas could be a problem in Korea. We plan to strengthen multi-faceted education for all employees to prevent this from happening again in the future. We apologize for causing concerns."

Still, the agency's explanation was not enough as many Korean netizens were disappointed. Many netizens commented criticism, saying, "I feel that is just an excuse," "If the medicine that was prescribed in Korea doesn't sit well with you and you want medicine overseas, it's a normal procedure to get a doctor's note written in English at least. This wouldn't have been a problem if they got a doctor's note," "What I'm surprised is that BoA was on the search real-time ranking but then disappeared right away," "No wonder, BoA looked a lot tired these days," "The scandal is pretty quiet despite being a controversy with a star as big as BoA, which is weird," and "I feel that is just an excuse, BoA could have used her name to get the prescription, why use the employee's name?"