Appeals court upholds five-year term for drunk driver who killed Japanese mother in Seoul

On Thursday, the appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court upheld the lower court’s five-year imprisonment of Seo, a man in his 30s convicted of drunk driving that resulted in the death of a Japanese woman and injuries to her daughter. Seo’s appeal was dismissed because the judges found no basis for sentence reduction or leniency. The incident occurred on Nov. 2 near Dongdaemun Station in Jongno Ward after Seo consumed three bottles of soju, registering a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.212 percent, far above the 0.08 percent threshold for license revocation.

While the mother, in her 50s, was taken to hospital in cardiac arrest and later died, her daughter, in her 30s, escaped with minor injuries. The district court had also ordered the confiscation of the Tesla he was driving. The appellate court characterized his driving as uncontrolled and tantamount to murder.