Man in his 20s killed in drunk-driving crash days before wedding

(Illustratio by Park Ji-young/The Korea Herald)

A woman in her 30s has been arrested in South Korea on suspicion of causing a fatal drunk-driving crash that killed a man in his 20s who was preparing to get married, police said.

The crash occurred at about 9:20 p.m. on Jan. 4 in Hongseong-gun, South Chungcheong Province, when the suspect’s sport utility vehicle slammed into the victim’s motorcycle, according to the Hongseong Police Station.

Police said the woman was intoxicated and driving at roughly 170 kilometers per hour on a road with a speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour. The victim, a delivery worker, was riding home at the time of the collision.

The victim’s fiancee, who was driving alongside him in a separate car, told local media that the suspect cursed at the victim as he lay paralyzed on the road following the crash.

She said the victim remained conscious after the impact and asked her, “What’s wrong with my body? I can’t move.”

The man was rushed to a nearby hospital with severe injuries but later died despite medical treatment.

“(The suspect) cursed and said, ‘You surprised me, you XXXX.’ She said she was not at fault because she was driving 80 kilometers per hour and did not violate the traffic signal,” the fiancee said, adding that the suspect appeared unaware that she had struck a person.

Police said the suspect’s two daughters were in the vehicle at the time of the crash and that she berated the victim for “shocking her kids.”

The woman has been booked on charges of death caused by dangerous driving under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. Investigators said she has asked for leniency, citing her children.

The victim’s family has rejected any settlement and has called for strict punishment, police said.