Ex-After School singer Lizzy receives fine for DUI incident

Former After School member Lizzy has been issued a fine for her DUI incident earlier this year.

During a trial held on October 28 as reported by SBS News and translated by Soompi, the Seoul Central District Court issued Lizzy – real name Park Soo-ah – a fine of ₩15million (approximately £9,300) for causing a car accident as a result of driving while inebriated.

The court stated that “while the defendant was intoxicated and in a state in which she could not drive normally, she caused a car accident that injured the victim”. The court also noted the high levels of alcohol present in her blood at the time of the incident as a major deciding factor, concluding that a “punishment that suits these factors” was necessary in her case.

“We took into consideration the fact that it is the defendant’s first-time offence, that the victim’s injury is minor, and that the defendant handed her car over to display her determination to prevent the offence from reoccurring,” shared the court of its decision, after the prosecution had requested for the idol to be sentenced to one year in prison in her first hearing for the case last month, per Soompi. 

Lizzy had crashed into a taxi on May 18, 2021 at around 10pm KST while driving under the influence in the Cheongdam neighbourhood of Seoul’s Gangnam district. The alcohol level in her blood at the time was over 0.08 per cent, which was enough to get her South Korean driver’s license revoked.

The musician had previously opened up on Instagram about how the aftermath of the incident had impacted on her life. “Now, my life is over. It’s true that I’ve let everyone down. The driver [from the accident] wasn’t hurt that much, but the articles [were written that way],” she wrote in her post.