A Korean actor who was previously sentenced to prison and served time as the first celebrity punished under the “Yoon Chang Ho Act” has been sentenced once again for his fifth DUI offense.
On the 11th, the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 5 (Presiding Judge Kim Hyung Seok) held a sentencing hearing for charges against Son Seung Won, including violations of the Road Traffic Act (hit-and-run injury under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes).
The court sentenced Son Seung Won to one year in prison and ordered him detained in court.
Son Seung Won was arrested last November after driving in the wrong direction on Gangbyeonbuk-ro for about two minutes while heavily intoxicated. He was prosecuted in February this year. At the time, his blood alcohol concentration was 0.165%, more than twice the license cancellation threshold (0.08%).
Immediately after the accident, he lied to the police, claiming that the designated driver involved in an argument had abandoned the car and left. He also instructed his girlfriend to remove the black box storage device from his car, which was at Yongsan Police Station, attempting to destroy evidence.
At the prosecution’s closing argument last month, they demanded a four-year prison sentence. Moreover, it was revealed on the 8th of last month, ahead of the trial, that he had driven while his license was revoked, sparking public outrage.
Son Seung Won submitted multiple letters of remorse and statements to the investigating authorities, expressing his intention to quit drinking and seeking hospital treatment to prevent further drinking problems. However, it was reported that after being caught drunk driving last year, he drove the same white BMW used in that incident to a bar in Hannam-dong, Seoul, to drink.
This is Son Seung Won’s fifth drunk driving offense. Previously, in 2018, he was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for drunk driving in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where he hit the car ahead and fled the scene. At that time, his license had already been revoked due to three prior drunk driving violations.
The court applied the so-called “Yoon Chang Ho Act” (amended Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and Road Traffic Act), which increased penalties for drivers causing casualties through drunk driving. Son Seung Won was infamously the first celebrity punished under this act after being caught driving drunk the month following the law’s passage through the National Assembly.