BTS' Suga Faces Summary Prosecution for Drunk Driving on Electric Scooter

BTS member Suga has been summarily charged with drunk driving.

On September 10, the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office announced that Suga has been summarily indicted for drunk driving under the Road Traffic Act.

Summary prosecution is a procedure where the prosecution requests the court to impose fines and forfeiture without a formal trial, typically for relatively minor offenses. This often applies to first-time offenders or those who have not caused harm to others. The specific amount of the fine for Suga has not been disclosed.

Suga was apprehended by police around 11:15 p.m. on August 6 while riding an electric scooter near his home in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. At the time, his blood alcohol concentration was 0.227%, approximately three times the legal limit of 0.08% for license suspension. According to the Road Traffic Act, a blood alcohol level exceeding 0.2% can result in imprisonment for two to five years or a fine between 10 million and 20 million won.

Both Suga and HYBE have acknowledged and apologized for the drunk driving incident. However, there were suspicions that they tried to downplay the situation by referring to the electric scooter as an electric kickboard and claiming they were fined despite no legal decision being made. In response, HYBE issued a corrected apology, and Suga also wrote a lengthy handwritten apology after completing his police investigation on August 23. He expressed regret, stating, "I have caused trouble to the name of BTS."