Jeju court lets woman off drunk driving charge due to insufficient evidence
Published: 05 Aug. 2025, 13:30
![A driver complies with a police officer at a drunk driving checkpoint on Jeju Island on April 10. The image is not related to the story. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/08/05/a74b94b2-657b-49a9-ab2f-39cb3875677d.jpg)
A driver complies with a police officer at a drunk driving checkpoint on Jeju Island on April 10. The image is not related to the story. [NEWS1]
A woman in her 50s who was tried on charges of drunk driving was acquitted by a local court due to insufficient evidence.
According to legal sources on Monday, the Jeju District Court recently found the woman not guilty of violating the Road Traffic Act.
Prosecutors alleged that the woman drove 250 meters (820 feet) on a road in Jeju City at 7:34 p.m. on May 5, 2023, while her blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit of 0.03 percent.
At that time, the woman reversed into a utility pole and then collided with a parked vehicle after moving forward again, according to the indictment.
When police conducted a blood test at 9:05 p.m. — about 90 minutes after the incident — the woman’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.313 percent, well above the license revocation threshold of 0.08 percent.
Using this result, prosecutors applied the Widmark formula — a method that estimates earlier blood alcohol levels based on time elapsed, alcohol consumption, body weight and gender — and concluded that the woman’s blood alcohol level at the time of the incident was likely between 0.041 and 0.055 percent, a range that would warrant a license suspension.
Prosecutors also submitted a receipt showing that the woman had purchased one bottle of soju and one bottle of makgeolli (Korean rice wine) at 2:40 p.m. that day.
However, the woman admitted to driving but denied being intoxicated at the time. She claimed during trial that she drank 600 milliliters (20.3 fluid ounces) of soju between 7:58 p.m. and 8:28 p.m., after the accident occurred.
The court sided with the defense, ruling that the evidence was insufficient to prove that the woman was intoxicated while driving.
The judge noted that because the woman’s blood was drawn 30 to 40 minutes after her alleged last drink, she may have still been in the absorption phase of alcohol metabolism — meaning her blood alcohol level at 7:34 p.m. when she was driving or during the later drinking window could have been lower than 0.313 percent.
The court also pointed out that, based on the Widmark formula, even if the woman had consumed both bottles of soju and makgeolli five hours before the accident, her estimated blood alcohol level would have been only 0.01389 percent — below the legal limit for prosecution.
“If there is no evidence that confirms the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, the benefit of the doubt must go to the defendant,” the court said in its ruling.
“The evidence presented by prosecutors is not sufficient to conclude that the defendant was driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.03 percent or higher.”
Prosecutors have appealed the lower court’s decision.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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