Singer Kim Ho-joong, serving a prison sentence after being convicted in a drunken driving hit-and-run accident, sought a "Christmas pardon" but was deemed ineligible.
On the 17th according to legal sources, the parole review board under the Ministry of Justice reviewed the eligibility of inmates eligible for parole, including Kim Ho-joong, and judged Kim Ho-joong to be ineligible.
Under the Criminal Act, a person sentenced to imprisonment for abandonment can be eligible for parole after serving one-third of the sentence. Kim Ho-joong became automatically subject to parole review under the relevant law, which places someone on the review list when certain conditions are met considering age, motive for the crime, the name of the offense, and risk of recidivism, but he appears to have been judged ineligible due to the serious nature of the offense.
In May last year, Kim Ho-joong is accused of fleeing after crashing into a taxi while driving on a road in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and of having his manager make a false surrender. Kim Ho-joong appeared before the police 17 hours after the accident, but he was suspected of "drink stacking," deliberately drinking more to avoid punishment for drunk driving.
In November last year at the first trial, Kim Ho-joong was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison and appealed; at the second trial he pleaded for leniency, saying, "I know this crime will never be erased in my lifetime. I will use this incident as a catalyst to live a different life than before," but the appeal was dismissed, and by giving up the final appeal the 2 years and 6 months prison sentence was upheld.
Kim Ho-joong, who had been serving his sentence at Seoul Detention Center, was transferred to Somang Prison in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province. It is reported that the transfer was carried out after his application was accepted, and that Kim Ho-joong was originally a Christian and that people close to him recommended admission to Somang Prison after considering various circumstances.
Meanwhile, Kim Ho-joong is scheduled to be released in Nov. 2026.
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