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Buddhist monk gets 8 months in prison for repeated drunk driving

Published: 03 May. 2026, 12:47

[KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

A Buddhist monk has been imprisoned for repeated drunk driving.

The Suwon District Court sentenced a monk to eight months in prison and took them into custody in court on charges of violating the Road Traffic Act, specifically drunk driving, on Saturday, according to the legal community.

The monk is accused of driving about 200 meters (656 feet) on a road in Naju, South Jeolla, at around 3:45 a.m. on July 7 last year while heavily intoxicated, with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.172 percent, a level that warrants license revocation.

They had been drinking with acquaintances after the passing of the head monk and were on the way home at the time, according to police.

The monk had previously been fined or received suspended prison sentences for drunk driving in 2004, 2008 and 2020. They were also sentenced to fines, suspended prison terms and prison time for driving without a license between 2009 and 2012.

“The defendant committed the crime again despite having been punished multiple times with fines, suspended prison terms and prison sentences,” the court said. “However, the court took into account that the defendant admitted to the crime and that no accident occurred.”

The monastic rules of Korea's major Buddhist orders forbid monks from drinking.

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 CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]