Actor Lee Jae-ryong, 62, was questioned by police on suspicion of causing a crash while driving under the influence and fleeing the scene, four days after the incident.
Lee arrived at Seoul’s Gangnam Police Station around 2 p.m. on the 10th and was questioned for about four hours. He emerged to face reporters at roughly 6:16 p.m. in a black suit, bowed and apologized, saying, "I am truly sorry for causing concern to many people because of my wrongful actions."
When asked whether he had admitted to drunk driving, Lee said he had acknowledged it immediately. He declined to explain why he fled the scene, saying he was not aware that he had done so and that he would comment further at a later time.
Police allege that at around 11 p.m. on the 6th, near Cheongdam Station in Gangnam, Lee — while intoxicated — crashed into the center median for roughly 20 meters (about 66 feet) and then fled. After the collision, he reportedly parked the vehicle at his home and went to an acquaintance’s house; officers arrested him roughly three hours later. Authorities say his blood-alcohol level at the time of arrest was high enough to trigger a license suspension.
Lee initially denied driving under the influence during early questioning, but the following day he changed his account, saying he had consumed four glasses of soju and believed he had only lightly grazed the median. He has denied allegations that he drank more afterward to interfere with alcohol testing — the so-called "drinking to alter results." Police say they are using the Widmark formula and evidence that he attended multiple drinking gatherings to back-calculate his blood-alcohol concentration at the time of the crash.
The case has provoked public outrage because it would mark Lee’s third alcohol-related offense. In 2003, his license was revoked after he refused a breathalyzer following a drunk-driving incident, and in 2019 he damaged a bowling alley sign while intoxicated and received a suspended indictment. Critics have grown louder after he appeared on the YouTube channel 'Jjanhan Hyung Shin Dong-yeop' last month, where he was seen drinking.
There has also been sympathy for his family. His wife, actress Yoo Ho-jeong, recently returned to television after an 11-year hiatus on KBS2’s Prescribing Love, and his scandal threatens to overshadow her comeback. Police say they will decide whether to request an arrest warrant and refer Lee for prosecution based on the investigation’s findings.
iMBC Entertainment — Kim Kyung-hee | Video by Park Yoo-young
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