[talk] Drunk driving charge dropped… Kim Ho-joong, eventually arrested and indicted

Trot singer Kim Ho-joong (33), who is suspected of drunk driving and hit-and-run, has been arrested and indicted. The drunk driving charge was not applied.

According to the legal community on the 18th, the 5th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-heon) indicted Kim on charges of violating the Special Act (dangerous driving resulting in death, hit-and-run resulting in death), violating the Road Traffic Act (failure to take post-accident measures), and aiding and abetting a criminal's escape.

Lee Kwang-deuk, the CEO of Saenggak Entertainment, Kim’s agency, who ordered his manager to remove the black box storage device from Kim’s getaway vehicle, was arrested and indicted on charges of destruction of evidence, and Jeon Mo, the head of the agency who stated that he swallowed Kim’s car’s black box memory card, was arrested and indicted on charges of destruction of evidence and aiding and abetting a violation of the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving). The agency manager, who drove the vehicle involved in the accident while intoxicated and falsely turned himself in to the police, was indicted without detention.

The prosecution previously applied for an extension of the detention period, citing the large number of people involved in the case and the complexity of the case, and the court accepted this, extending the period to the 19th. On the 24th of last month, the court issued an arrest warrant for three people, including Mr. Kim, citing concerns of destruction of evidence.

Kim is suspected of running away after causing an accident by crashing into a taxi on the opposite side of the road in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul at around 11:40 p.m. on the 9th of last month. Immediately after the accident, Kim’s manager falsely surrendered himself instead of Kim, raising suspicions of a driver swap. Kim went into hiding and only appeared at the police station 17 hours later to admit to driving.

Kim, who had denied the suspicion of drinking, admitted to drinking on the 19th of last month after CCTV footage and other evidence of drinking emerged, and was arrested on the 24th. On the 31st of last month, Gangnam Police Station in Seoul sent Kim and his agency officials to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

The prosecution explained that after the case was forwarded, it was clearly revealed through the defendants' cell phone forensics, call records, and CCTV image quality improvement that Mr. Kim had difficulty driving normally due to the influence of alcohol.

However, because Kim's obstruction of justice, including switching drivers, made it impossible to measure blood alcohol levels, the Road Traffic Act violation (drunk driving) charge was not indicted. The prosecution believed that it would be difficult to determine the level of intoxication using the Widmark formula, which reverse-estimates blood alcohol levels.

The prosecution stated, “We have confirmed a vacuum in punishment and legislation related to drunk driving due to the organized obstruction of justice by the defendants, led by Mr. Kim,” and “It is absolutely necessary to introduce punishment provisions for obstruction of justice, such as intentional false statements by those involved and intentional additional drinking after a drunk driving accident.”

Why was the DUI charge dropped? That's the problem... I'm a bit confused about what's going on.