Hundreds Caught Drunk Driving on Friday Night Across South Korea

Hundreds of motorists were caught driving under the influence during a nationwide police crackdown on Friday night amid the peak summer vacation season.

According to the Korean National Police Agency, a total of 320 drunk driving cases were detected during the nationwide simultaneous crackdown conducted on the night of the 31st.

Police deployed 4,225 police officers and 1,580 patrol cars to 733 locations nationwide, focusing on vacation spots and regional entertainment districts for a large-scale sobriety checkpoint operation.

The crackdown resulted in 320 total violations, including 185 license revocations, 129 license suspensions, and 6 refusals to take a breathalyzer test.

The operation was timed for Friday night, when a high volume of vehicles head toward vacation destinations.

The police agency is currently running a special enforcement period against drunk driving for the summer vacation season, which runs from July 1 to August 31.

As of the 30th of last month, a total of 8,742 violations had been cracked down on, comprising 5,604 license revocations, 2,923 license suspensions, and 215 test refusals.

Drunk driving is known for its high recidivism rate.

Out of the 105,875 drunk driving cases caught by police last year, 46,556 individuals (44.0 percent) were repeat offenders.

However, drunk driving traffic accidents are on a downward trend.

Last year, drunk driving accidents dropped by 6.2 percent from the previous year to 10,351 cases, and fatalities decreased by 12.3 percent to 121 deaths.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.