Why is 'Running Man' star Kim Jongkook planning to take 391 drug tests?
Over the last few weeks, a new drama has been brewing in the K-pop industry’s YouTube section with respect to the naturality of singer and broadcaster Kim Jongkook’s insane physicality and buff appearance. On October 31, Canadian YouTuber, Greg Doucette made a video on his channel titled, ‘Kim Jong Kook | Natty or Not’ as he looked at videos and photos of the K-pop idol and made assumptions based on his personal experience about the use of safe steroids amongst gym enthusiasts.
Greg made a passing comment that he does not think the K-pop singer would have the body and physique that he has come to him naturally. He said that he thinks Kim Jongkook has used some legal and safe steroids over the years in order to achieve an ideal physique. Many tabloids and journals started making a mountain out of a molehill that was this video and claimed that the YouTuber accused the K-pop star of ‘steroid abuse’ while that had not been the case.’
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Kim Jong Kook gets tested for steroid intake
All this chatter blew way out of proportion that led Kim Jongkook himself to address it. In his first of two community posts on YouTube directed at this drama, Jongkoook made an official announcement with a picture of himself getting blood drawn out of his arm. In the caption to the post, he said, “It's such a fun and exciting issue.” He said that he was initially going to laugh off the entire accusation from the YouTuber but as the matter has been taken up on various news channels he thought it would be a good platform to prove himself.
Jongkook added, “I plan to take all the tests that exist in the world if necessary. I just finished one today.” He noted that he is planning to get registered as an athlete at the Korean WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) institute that specializes in doping tests to have a detailed examination of his physical health and falsify the steroidal drug abuse accusation so Kim Jongkook will be able to paint in his words, “a big picture of the development and promotion of Korean fitness!”
The drama continues
The YouTuber, Greg made a follow-up video to call out all tabloid journalists that blew his mere video way out of proportion and revisited his own words. Greg followed that up saying he did not accuse Jongkook of using illegal substances and said that Greg himself uses legal drugs and it is okay to admit the truth. Kim Jongkook responded to this in another community post on YouTube saying, he does not say it is wrong to take legal steroids but he contradicts the statement of assumption from Greg. He has spent many dedicated years in the gym to ensure his physical fitness and is proud of his journey which is why he wants to set an example for other gym enthusiasts.
Following the entire indirect banter between the two men, Kim Jongkook made a new community post with a picture from inside a testing lab on his YouTube channel ‘GYM Jong Kook’ on November 9 with the caption, “It will take a lot of time and money, but I believe it will be worth it. As of 2021, 391 doping tests are carried out according to WADA, which did not remove a single illegal drug that was updated up to the latest. Many thanks to everyone who helped. Going beyond the hormone part that raised suspicions, we will take this opportunity to verify all drugs. I look forward to learning the maturity to recognize and respect differences.”