Asia-Pacific

Calls Growing in S. Korea for Tougher Drunk Driving Penalties After Japanese, Other Foreigners Killed

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Flowers are seen placed at the site where a Japanese woman died and her daughter suffered serious injuries after they were struck by a car, in Seoul on Nov. 10.

By Seidai Fujihara / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

14:40 JST, November 17, 2025

SEOUL — Calls are growing in South Korea for tougher drunk driving penalties following a series of accidents involving foreign victims, including from Japan.

In the evening on Nov. 2, a car driven by a drunk driver struck a 58-year-old Japanese woman and her 38-year-old daughter while they were crossing an intersection near Seoul’s bustling Dongdaemun district. The woman was killed in the accident, while her daughter suffered serious injuries, including a broken kneecap.

It was the first day of the two women’s three-day “mother-daughter trip” to the country.

“I don’t know how I was driving,” said the male driver of the car, who is in his 30s. He was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving causing death and injury, among other charges.

The man had drunk three bottles of shochu at a restaurant and was too drunk to remember what he did.

On Oct. 25, a Canadian man also died after he was hit by a drunk driver in Seoul’s Gangnam district.

In both accidents, the drivers’ blood alcohol levels were over the legal limit and high enough for their licenses to be revoked.

According to the Korean National Police Agency, 11,307 traffic accidents were caused by drunk driving in 2024, about five times that of Japan.

Lenient penalties are said to be one of the reasons for the country’s high number of drunk driving accidents.

In South Korea, the statutory penalty for dangerous driving resulting in death is life imprisonment or three or more years in prison, which is heavier than in Japan, where the penalty for the same crime is imprisonment of at least one year or up to 20 years.

However, the South Korean Supreme Court has set its sentencing guidelines for the crime at four to eight years in prison, even in serious cases. According to South Korean media, it is rare for a penalty of imprisonment of at least 10 years to be handed down for the crime in the county.

About 95% of drunk driving cases are said to result in a suspended prison sentence, and the recidivism rate for drunk driving exceeds 40%.

The Nov. 6 editorial of South Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo said that as long as an atmosphere of tolerance toward the lenient punishments persists, the number of victims will not decrease.

“We must not be called a ‘developing country’ when it comes to drunk driving,” the editorial said.

The Nov. 2 accident was widely reported in South Korea, and many flowers have been placed at the scene where the accident occurred.

On Nov. 10, an elderly woman from Seoul offered a warm drink at the site and said, “I hope this culture of leniency toward drunk driving will be done away with, and such accidents will never happen again.”