Four foreigners who teach English to kids between four and seven at an English kindergarten in the Gangam area in Seoul were arrested for smoking marijuana Wednesday. The Seoul District Prosecutors' Office issued arrest warrants for two Americans and a Canadian for violating the marijuana control law and arrested another American without detention for having smoked marijuana after her arrival on March 1. Prosecutors confiscated the remaining marijuana and pipes.

After receiving marijuana in parcels from the US by express mail delivery service in late December 2000, the arrested allegedly smoked the drug at their homes and in bars. According to the prosecution, they argued that they were not under the influence of the drug when teaching kids in the morning as they usually smoked in the evenings. An official at the kindergarten said that even smoking is not allowed at the institute and that officials had no idea that some instructors were on marijuana.

(Lee Hang-su hangsu@chosun.com )