Actor Seung-won Son, who was previously convicted and sentenced to one year in prison for his fifth drunk driving offense, has received a heavier sentence on appeal. The Seoul Western District Court’s Criminal Appeals Division 1, presided over by Senior Judge Ban Jeong-woo, overturned the original one-year prison term and sentenced Son to two years behind bars, according to court records from South Korea.
The appeals court pointed to the severity of the defendant’s actions during the incident, noting that driving while intoxicated for approximately 7 kilometers and traveling the wrong way on the Gangbyeon Expressway for about a minute and a half created a profound public hazard. The panel emphasized that Son had three prior convictions for identical offenses, including a previous prison sentence of one year and six months, which influenced the decision to accept the prosecution’s argument that the first-instance sentence was too light.
During the appeal proceedings, prosecutors had argued for a four-year prison term, citing the defendant’s extensive history of driving under the influence and a high risk of recidivism. While the court increased Son’s prison sentence to two years, it dismissed the prosecution’s appeal regarding his girlfriend, identified by her surname Kim, who was tried alongside him on charges of evidence concealment after attempting to hide the vehicle’s black box footage. The court maintained the original ruling for Kim, upholding a fine of 1.5 million won paired with a suspended sentence.
Legal History and Precedent Under Road Traffic Laws
The case stems from an incident in November when Son was taken into custody at the scene after driving the wrong way on the Gangbyeon Expressway for about two minutes while heavily intoxicated, leading to formal charges in February. Law enforcement testing at the time confirmed that his blood alcohol concentration was more than double the statutory threshold for license revocation, marking his fifth total DUI violation.
Son’s legal troubles involving impaired driving date back well before the recent appellate ruling. Court records show he received summary orders for two separate drunk driving offenses in 2015. In 2018, while already under investigation for crashing into a taxicab while driving under the influence, he committed another DUI collision while in a state that warranted license revocation.
That 2018 prosecution drew attention as the first instance among celebrities in which South Korean authorities applied the strengthened legal standards commonly referred to as the “Yoon Chang-ho Act.” Under the specific provisions of the Act targeting aggravated dangerous driving resulting in injury, courts handed down a 1 year and 6 months prison sentence.
Broader Context and Public Safety Impact
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