Revisiting Police Post on Kim Hojung's Arrest: "Underestimated the Police and Prosecutors Too Much"

Kim Ho-jung Arrested on Charges of Drunk Hit-and-Run... National Outrage
Allegations of Driver Switch and Intentional Drinking After Accident
"If Punished for Drunk Driving, It Would Have Ended, but Lies Made It Worse"

Singer Kim Ho-jung, who was arrested on charges of 'hit-and-run while driving under the influence,' has been revealed to have attempted to evade the crime through various tricks, and a post by the police criticizing Kim for making the situation worse has become a hot topic. On the 27th, an anonymous post titled 'Ho-jung hyung! The police aren't that XX' was uploaded on the anonymous workplace community 'Blind.' The post was written by a user affiliated with the National Police Agency and, although it has since been deleted, it is spreading online.

Singer Kim Ho-jung, who is accused of drunk hit-and-run, is bowing his head as he appears at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 24th for a warrant hearing (pre-arrest suspect interrogation). Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

The author of the post, Mr. A, pointed out, "If the settlement money had been handed over to the other party and the DUI punishment had been served, it would have been over, but I wonder how XX the investigative agency must have looked to have lied repeatedly." He added, "Even if the blood alcohol test is done after some time and no alcohol level is detected, they check the closed-circuit television (CCTV) of the place where the drinking occurred, and if there is no footage, they call the people who were with him as witnesses for investigation, and 9.9 out of 10 times, they confess on their own. The lawyer hired with a lot of money must have told him this."

Mr. A appears to have raised suspicion that Kim’s purchase of four cans of beer near a hotel in Gyeonggi-do immediately after the accident was a so-called 'mixing drinks' tactic to deceive the police’s alcohol test. Kim was tested at a police station about 17 hours after the accident and was given a 'negative' result, meaning a blood alcohol concentration below 0.03%.

Mr. A said, "But it seems they underestimated the police and prosecution too much. Of course, the police have a poor public image, but the fact that a single police station’s investigation team secured evidence within a day or two, proceeded swiftly, and even requested an arrest warrant means that all investigators were fully engaged, each taking responsibility from the start to the end of the investigation." He added, "Simply put, this means they were very angry."

He continued, "In fact, on the police internal bulletin board, there were posts supporting the Gangnam Police Station, and 100 comments cheering on the investigators in charge. I have never seen police officers nationwide, who deal with murderers, rapists, and other heinous criminals, post messages supporting other investigators, but thanks to Kim Ho-jung, I saw it for the first time."

He concluded, "Congratulations on the arrest. The investigative agencies underestimated him, but I guess they didn’t expect the court to side with them. However, the issuance of Kim Ho-jung’s arrest warrant means there is more than enough evidence. The one who made things worse is not the agency or the fan club, but Kim Ho-jung himself."

Trot singer Kim Ho-jung, accused of 'hit-and-run under the influence,' is moving to a vehicle after completing an investigation at Gangnam Police Station in Seoul on the afternoon of the 21st. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim is accused of driving under the influence and fleeing the scene after colliding with a taxi on a road in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, around 11:40 p.m. on the 9th (charges include dangerous driving causing injury and hit-and-run causing injury under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes). His agency’s CEO, Lee Kwang-deuk, is charged with instructing Kim Ho-jung’s manager to falsely surrender (obstruction of justice), and the head of the agency, Mr. Jeon, is charged with removing the black box memory card from Kim’s vehicle (evidence tampering, etc.).

Kim’s actions immediately after the accident, such as switching drivers, avoiding alcohol testing, and additional drinking, have been pointed out as typical methods of evading DUI charges. On the 20th, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office requested the Ministry of Justice to establish related criminal penalties for ‘post-accident intentional drinking,’ where a person deliberately drinks more alcohol after causing a DUI accident to avoid punishment.

The police plan to conduct a full-scale investigation focusing on charges such as DUI, which were not applied when requesting Kim’s arrest warrant, by thoroughly analyzing the evidence secured so far.