South Korean artist Park Soo Young, better known as Lizzy, has been ordered by the Seoul District Court to serve a 1-year prison sentence for the charges of drunk driving which resulted in a traffic accident.
On Monday, Sept 27th, the former member of the defunct girl group After School appeared before the court for her first DUI trial, where she apologized to the driver involved and displayed regret for her negligence and for her previous statements regarding drunk driving in the past.
“I have been advocating against driving under the influence and yet I have done the very wrong thing due to my ill-advised decision at the moment. I promise that this wouldn’t happen again ever in my life. I will not let anybody down from this point onward, including myself. I was afraid of myself but coming here for the trial was more terrifying,” she said in her statement to the court.
Earlier that month, the 29-year-old broke down in tears during a live broadcast on her Instagram, apologizing for the incident and going on to say that now her “life is over.”
She also expressed frustration for the hate comments and media outlets that were spreading misinformation about the incident.
“The other driver [from the accident] did not get hurt that much, but the articles went out like that. [People] are basically telling one person to die now. In life, there are always moments when people have a hard time. In this situation, there are even comments telling me to make an extreme decision. I did something very wrong, and from the perspective of knowing that I was in the wrong, I am so sorry.”
Lizzy was charged with a DUI back in May after hitting a taxi while driving under the influence. When police arrived at the scene, it was revealed that her blood alcohol levels were higher than the legal limit and her driving licence was revoked.
