Overturning Not Guilty Verdict, 1 Year Imprisonment and 2 Years Probation
Court: "Additional Drunk Driving Guilt Is Not Light"
A man in his 50s who drank additional soju at a nearby convenience store after causing a traffic accident while driving under the influence was found guilty in the second trial. The so-called 'sultagi' method, where the driver drinks alcohol immediately after the accident to conceal the fact of drunk driving, did not work.
The Cheongju District Court Criminal Appeal Division 3 (Presiding Judge Tae Ji-young) overturned the first trial's acquittal and sentenced A (57) to one year in prison with a two-year probation on charges including violation of the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving), according to Yonhap News on the 20th. A is accused of driving about 5 km while intoxicated on a road in Yeongdong-gun, Chungbuk, last June and hitting a vehicle waiting at a traffic light, injuring the driver.
After the accident, when the injured driver suspected drunk driving, A went into a nearby convenience store, bought two bottles of soju, poured them into paper cups, and drank them. The blood alcohol concentration measured by the police who arrived at the scene was 0.277%.
The first trial court acquitted A, stating that it could not be definitively concluded that A's blood alcohol concentration exceeded the punishment threshold of 0.03% before drinking at the convenience store. The court applied the Widmark formula, which estimates blood alcohol concentration over time based on the amount of alcohol consumed, alcohol concentration, body weight, and gender, assuming A drank both bottles of soju, to back-calculate the alcohol level.
However, the appellate court's judgment differed. The second trial court noted evidence showing that some soju remained in the paper cup A drank from and recalculated the alcohol amount accordingly. As a result, it was revealed that A's blood alcohol concentration exceeded the punishment threshold. The appellate court explained the guilty verdict by stating, "The defendant has been criminally punished four times for drunk driving but still got behind the wheel while intoxicated. Moreover, he caused confusion in the investigation by drinking additional alcohol and has not been forgiven by the victim, so his culpability is not light."
Meanwhile, public outrage has grown over singer Kim Ho-jung, who was accused of drunk hit-and-run in May but was acquitted of drunk driving charges despite admitting to drunk driving, leading to calls for tougher punishment for drunk drivers who attempt 'sultagi.' The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted Kim on the 18th of last month on charges including dangerous driving causing injury and hit-and-run under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, post-accident measures under the Road Traffic Act, and aiding a fugitive, but excluded the drunk driving charge that the police had included during the transfer stage.
When this became known, netizens criticized it as "equivalent to widely publicizing ways to avoid drunk driving charges." Especially on an anonymous workplace app, a police officer posted under the title "The lesson brought by Kim Ho-jung," sarcastically stating, "If caught drunk driving, always flee; even if you hit a parked car, always flee; if caught in a drunk driving crackdown, run into a convenience store and drink soju."
Following Kim's case, two amendments to the Road Traffic Act, known as the 'Kim Ho-jung Prevention Act,' were proposed. On the 10th of last month, Min Hyung-bae of the Democratic Party proposed a bill to establish punishment for the 'sultagi' practice, a trick where a driver hastily drinks alcohol to confuse police measurements when about to be caught for drunk driving due to a traffic accident. The bill stipulates that those who commit 'sultagi' shall be punished by imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to 20 million won. Additionally, on the 18th of last month, Shin Young-dae of the same party proposed a bill that explicitly prohibits drinking additional alcohol after driving while intoxicated to hinder alcohol measurement, with violations punishable by imprisonment of two to five years or a fine between 10 million and 20 million won.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office also requested the Ministry of Justice on May 20 to establish criminal penalties for 'intentional additional drinking after a drunk driving traffic accident.' This regulation would punish intentional additional drinking with imprisonment from one to five years or a fine of 5 million to 20 million won, which corresponds to the same penalty as refusal to undergo alcohol testing.
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