SEOUL (AFP) – A member of K-pop megagroup BTS was hit with an USD11,000 fine – almost the maximum possible — for driving an electric scooter while drunk, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported Monday.
SUGA, 31, was discovered lying on the ground next to his e-scooter by police late at night on August 6, with a blood alcohol level well over the legal limit.
The singer, who is currently performing mandatory military duties as a social service agent, has already had his driving licence revoked.
The Seoul Western District Court “imposed a 15 million-won fine ($11,465) on the 31-year-old artist, whose legal name is Min Yoon-gi, last Friday, a sentence that is identical to the prosecutors’ request”, Yonhap said, citing legal sources.
Police have said SUGA’s blood alcohol level was 0.227 percent — nearly three times what is permitted by law.
Driving with a blood alcohol level over 0.2 percent can result in a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine of up to 20 million won under the South Korean Road Traffic Act.
Seoul’s Military Manpower Administration has said that SUGA will be punished according to the traffic law, not military law, as the incident happened outside of his official working hours.
In late August, the BTS member wrote a handwritten apology, saying he had “tarnished” the boy band’s name.
“I have left a large blemish on the precious memories I made together with my members and our fans, and I have tarnished BTS’s name,” he wrote.
SUGA added that he made a “grave mistake” and he is “painfully sorry”.
The seven members of the world’s most popular boy band have been on a self-described “hiatus” since 2022 due to their military service, which South Korea requires of all men under 30 due to tensions with the nuclear-armed North.
