Singer Kim Ho-joong, who is serving time for the charge of driving under the influence and hit-and-run, has been reported to have been transferred to a private prison.
According to a report from a media outlet on 19th, Kim Ho-joong has recently entered Somang Prison located in Buknae-myeon, Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province.
Until recently, Kim Ho-joong was incarcerated at Seoul Detention Center, but his application to enter Somang Prison, a private facility, was accepted, leading to his transfer.
Somang Prison, operated by the Agape Christian Foundation, is the first private prison in Korea and conducts reform activities based on Christian faith. The Ministry of Justice selects inmates based on various criteria, including those who have been convicted of non-violent offenses for less than two times, those sentenced to less than seven years, and male inmates with more than a year remaining on their sentences, excluding drug and organized crime offenders.
According to the report, Kim Ho-joong is originally a Christian, and it has been conveyed that those close to him suggested entering Somang Prison considering various circumstances.
On May 9 of last year, Kim Ho-joong was driving under the influence and crashed into a taxi that was stopped on the opposite road before fleeing the scene. After the accident, Kim Ho-joong's manager surrendered on his behalf, and Kim Ho-joong reported to the police 17 hours later, admitting he was the one driving. As a result, he was charged with aggravated penalties under the Specific Crimes Aggravated Punishment Act for causing injury while driving recklessly and fleeing the scene, as well as for failure to provide assistance under the Road Traffic Act and for assisting a criminal in evading capture.
However, since his blood alcohol concentration was not measured immediately after the accident, the charge of drunk driving was excluded from the prosecution stage. The court determined Kim Ho-joong's state at the time of the accident, stating, "It was judged that he was in a state of significant impairment of judgment and cognitive ability due to considerable alcohol consumption, rather than simple manipulation of a mobile phone," and sentenced him to 2 years and 6 months in prison. Kim Ho-joong's side appealed, but the sentence was upheld in the second trial, and in May, they gave up their appeal to the Supreme Court, resulting in the sentence being finalized.
If Kim Ho-joong serves his full sentence, he is expected to be released in November next year.
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]