Nam Tae-hyun, a former member of a boygroup “WINNER,” was booked on charges of drunk driving, on March 8th. He is accused of driving seven to eight meters while drinking alcohol at a residential area in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, at around 3:20 a.m. As he opened the door, he broke right wing mirror of a taxi. A police officer made him take a breathalyzer test at the scene, and his blood alcohol level was 0.114 percent, which is a subject of license cancellation.
Moreover, Kim Sae-ron, an actress, hit guardrails and street trees several times while driving under the influence of alcohol in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Her car also collided with a transformer box, cutting off electricity supply to 57 nearby stores for three hours. Her blood alcohol level was measured to be more than 0.2 percent, far exceeding the license cancellation level. Prosecutors demanded a fine of 20 milion won for her.
There has been pointed out that the punishment for drunk driving is too weak, as for the exceeding 0.2 percent of blood alcohol level, imprisonment of not less than two years and not more than five years, or a fine of not less than 10 milion won and not more than 20 milion won.
This is quite different from other countries’ punishment. For instance, in Taiwan, one who did drunk driving can go straight to the jail and should have a distinctive yellow license plate for a year. In Korea, there are voices that this yellow license policy should be applied to Korean law. Since drunk driving could kill not only the driver but also a numerous innocent pedestrians, more proper punishment is definitely needed for the sake of safety of society.