'Black and White Chef' Lim Seonggeun, Who Claimed "Three DUIs," Actually Caught Four Times

Court Records Reveal First Drunk Driving Incident in 1999
YouTube Confession Video on Drunk Driving Now Deleted

Chef Seonggeun Lim, who gained popularity after appearing on the Netflix variety show "Heukbaek Yorisah Season 2," has been confirmed to have been caught drunk driving on four separate occasions in the past. Lim recently stated on YouTube that he had driven under the influence about three times over a span of 10 years, but court records show that the actual number of incidents was higher, and the explanatory video has since been deleted.

Chef Seonggeun Lim, known as 'Heukbaek Yorisah 2,' who confessed to past drunk driving on his YouTube channel. YouTube Imjjang TV

According to court rulings released by the Dong-A Ilbo on January 20, Lim was fined 5 million won for drunk driving on September 21, 1999. The verdict states that on August 15 of that year, at around 8:25 p.m., he was caught driving approximately 3 kilometers from Bupyeong-gu to the Seo-gu area in Incheon with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.153%. This far exceeded the license revocation threshold of 0.1% at the time.

At that time, Lim was found to have been driving his wife’s motorcycle without a license. He was detained for 37 days as a result of this incident. Notably, Lim was already under probation at the time. In March 1998, he had been sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, and fined 300,000 won for violating the Road Traffic Act. He appealed the sentence, but the appeal was dismissed in April 2000.

Lim’s drunk driving offenses continued after that. In 2009 and 2017, he was fined 2 million won and 3 million won, respectively, for drunk driving. In 2020, he was caught driving a car in Garibong-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul, with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.14%. He was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 80 hours of community service and 40 hours of a lawful driving course.

Earlier, on January 18, Lim confessed on his YouTube channel that he had driven under the influence three times, saying, "Because I like drinking, I made mistakes." He explained, "About 10 years ago, I was caught after falling asleep in my car with the engine running while drunk, and the most recent incident was five or six years ago." However, a review of court records shows there were actually four incidents, which differs from Lim’s account. The YouTube video containing his statement has been deleted following growing controversy.

In the video, Lim said, "Even though many years have passed, I believe I must take responsibility for my actions." After the video was released and the controversy grew, he issued a handwritten apology. However, criticism continues as discrepancies between his explanation and the actual records have come to light.