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Former Winner member Nam Tae-hyun admits to drunk-driving charge at court hearing

Published: 11 Dec. 2025, 16:08 Updated: 11 Dec. 2025, 19:48

Nam Tae-hyun speaks to reporters as he leaves the Seoul Western District Court after a hearing on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act on Oct. 19, 2023. [NEWS1]

Former Winner member Nam Tae-hyun admitted to a drunk-driving charge at his first court hearing on Thursday, months after he crashed into a median barrier while driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit.

The former boy band member appeared in the Seoul Western District Court wearing a long black padded coat, with his yellow-tinted hair tied back, before the court’s criminal division opened the hearing on the Road Traffic Act violation.

The judge asked “Do you admit to all the charges?” to which Nam replied, “Yes.” He told the court he is “an office worker now.”

Nam is accused of driving with a blood alcohol reading of 0.122 percent on April 27 near Dongjak Bridge on the Gangbyeonbuk-ro highway toward Ilsan, Gyeonggi, above the 0.08 percent threshold for license revocation.

Investigators say he also drove at 182 kilometers per hour (113 miles per hour) on a road with a speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour before hitting a median barrier. No one was injured.

At the time of the crash, Nam was serving a two-year suspended sentence after receiving a one-year prison term in January 2024 for drug use. Police sought an arrest warrant after the incident, but a court rejected the request, saying he did not pose a risk of destroying evidence.

Nam debuted as a member of boy band Winner in 2014. He left the group in 2016 before releasing music as a solo artist and with the group South Club.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]