Driver suspected of 'alcohol dilution' escapes DUI, still charged with hit-and-run killing

In October, a man was involved in a hit-and-run incident that resulted in the death of a woman in Busan. When caught 10 hours later, he was intoxicated but claimed he drank the alcohol after the accident.

It was reported Thursday that Busan police were unable to charge the man with drunk driving, despite suspicions that he was driving under the influence at the time of the accident.

According to officials at Sasang Police Station in Busan, the suspect, in his 60s, was still charged for the hit-and-run, accused of violating Article 5-3 of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, which stipulates a punishment of five years to life in prison for such crimes.

The hit-and-run occurred on a road in Sasang-gu, Busan at around 5 a.m. on Oct. 28. When the suspect was caught about 10 hours later, he claimed that his blood alcohol content was due to drinking soju at around 9 a.m. that day, after he caused the accident.

Using the Widmark formula to calculate how long the man's body would take to process alcohol, officials estimated that he had been over the 0.08 percent BAC level at the time of the accident. That level is high enough for a driver's license to be revoked, but officials were not able to prove exactly how drunk he was when he hit the woman with the car.

Police did state to the prosecution that the man is suspected of drunk driving.

The practice of "alcohol dilution" refers to drivers drinking alcohol after causing an accident in a bid to complicate any testing and escape drunk driving charges.

Popular singer Kim Ho-jung was accused of causing a car accident in May while under influence, but he drank a substantial amount of alcohol after the accident to evade the drunk driving charges. The prosecution ultimately decided not to press the DUI charge, and he was sentenced to 30 months in prison for hit-and-run, causing injury and other related charges.

Kim's accident led to calls for alcohol dilution to be made a punishable offense, and the National Assembly in November revised a law making it illegal to drink alcohol in order to impede police BAC testing. Violators can receive the same level of punishment as those who refuse to take a BAC test.

The change will be enforced from June of next year.