Prosecutors sought a four-year prison term for actor Son Seung-won, 36, who drove again while heavily intoxicated after being sentenced to prison for drunk driving.
According to legal sources on the 15th, at Son Seung-won's sentencing hearing on a charge of violating the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving), held before Presiding Judge Kim Hyeong-seok of the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 5, prosecutors asked the court to impose a four-year prison sentence.
Son was indicted on a charge of driving in the wrong direction on Gangbyeonbuk-ro for about two minutes while heavily intoxicated in November last year. At the time, his blood alcohol concentration was reported to be more than double the license-revocation level (0.08% or higher).
In 2018, Son also faced an investigation for crashing into a taxi while driving drunk and later caused another accident while at a level warranting license revocation.
At the time, the court applied the charge of injury by dangerous driving under the so-called "Yoon Chang-ho law," a statute on aggravated punishment for specific crimes, and sentenced Son to one year and six months in prison.
The Yoon Chang-ho law was established following the death of the late Yoon Chang-ho in a drunk driving crash. Its core is tougher penalties and lower thresholds for drunk driving. Among entertainers, Son was the first to be charged under this law.
The verdict in Son Seung-won's latest case is scheduled for the 11th of next month.