'Culinary Class Wars 2' boosted chef Im Seong-keun's popularity, but he is facing backlash after self-confessing three prior DUI incidents. He said he did not want to hide his past, but controversy continues as allegations have emerged that he downplayed the incidents.
Im Seong-keun revealed on the 18th through his YouTube channel 'ImJjang TV' in a video titled 'Food and alcohol' that he had driven under the influence in the past. He said, "I liked drinking, so I caused accidents. Over the course of 10 years I drove under the influence about three times."
Im Seong-keun said in the video that he confessed to drunk driving because "I did not want to hide my past. I thought it was right to apologize to my subscribers." He seemed to raise the issue first as a way to reflect on his past mistakes amid the heavy attention and love he has recently received.
But contrary to Im Seong-keun's intentions, harsh public criticism was fierce. Drunk driving is a crime with serious responsibility that cannot be treated as a single mistake or a dare. In particular, although Im Seong-keun referred to his drunk driving as if it were a "mistake," the public reacted coldly, saying "drunk driving is attempted murder" because it was repeated three times. Even one instance is hard to avoid social condemnation, and Im Seong-keun is receiving greater criticism because he repeated drunk driving three times.
In addition, it was pointed out that Im Seong-keun may have preemptively revealed his DUI history as a way to evade responsibility. As reporting on drunk driving began after Im Seong-keun became a hot topic, there are suspicions that he confessed before media reports to try to lower the level of criticism.
The fallout grew especially large after information emerged that contradicted Im Seong-keun's claim that he "only started the engine and slept in the car." According to a report by the Sunday newspaper on the 19th, Im Seong-keun actually drove the vehicle in the most recent DUI incident.
According to the court decision confirmed by the Sunday newspaper, on Jan. 15, 2020, at about 6:15 a.m., Im Seong-keun was driving about 200 meters on a street in Guro District, Seoul, while intoxicated and was caught in a DUI crackdown when he drove to another road. At the time, Im Seong-keun's blood alcohol concentration was 0.141%, reportedly a level of extreme intoxication exceeding the threshold for license cancellation. This makes it impossible for him to avoid suspicion that he downplayed the incident when confessing to dodge criticism.
After his confession spread into controversy, Im Seong-keun released a handwritten apology saying, "Drunk driving is an unforgivable wrongdoing for any reason," and "I was legally punished and spent a long time in seclusion reflecting. Recently, receiving great attention while covering up my past felt like deception. I thought it was my duty to confess and apologize directly before it was too late."
[Photo] YouTube video capture.
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