Funeral held for drunk driving victim
Friends of Yoon Chang-ho, a drunk driving victim, carry a portrait and coffin at his funeral service in Busan, Sunday. The friends have called for revision of the traffic law for stronger punishment of drunk drivers. / Yonhap
By Jung Hae-myoung
The funeral ceremony for Yoon Chang-ho, who was killed by a drunk driver, was held at the National Army Hospital in Busan, Sunday. Yoon, 22, died two days ago after being deemed brain dead since the accident in late September.
He had been serving with the Korean Augmentation Troops to the United States Army (KATUSA).
About 200 people — Yoon's family, friends and Korean and American soldiers including those at the Korean Service Corps Battalion — attended the funeral.
“My dear friend Chang-ho, I miss you already. Thank you and I love you,” Kim Min-jin, a friend of Yoon, cried while reading her eulogy. Since the accident, Kim and other friends have urged the government and the National Assembly to introduce heavier punishment for drunk driving by establishing the “Yoon Chang-ho law.”
“We'll move forward for your name to be used honorably,” she said.
Bae Jun-beom, who was injured in the accident and is still in a wheelchair, also said he would press to have the Yoon Chang-ho law passed.
Yoon's father, 53, said, “I hope the Yoon Chang-ho law will be passed soon to stop these tragedies in the future, and so he did not die in vain.”
Several politicians, including Rep. Ha Tae-kyung and Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu of the minor Bareunmirae Party, and Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, joined the funeral.
Also attending was Rep. Lee Yong-ju of the minor Party for Democracy and Peace, who was caught drunk driving only days after he joined the submission for the Yoon Chang-ho law. After causing a stir with his own offense, he visited Yoon and his family to apologize.
“My wrongdoing cannot be forgotten. I'll actively join efforts to prevent drunk driving,” Rep. Lee said.
Yoon, who dreamed of becoming a prosecutor, was in a car crash with a BMW driven by a man with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.134 percent on Sept. 25. Yoon was declared brain dead and died on Friday.
His friends cast light on this case in October by posting a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website to urge stronger punishment for drunk drivers. This petition received more than 406,600 signatures.
Through the friends' efforts, Rep. Ha, with 104 other members of the National Assembly, proposed the Yoon Chang-ho law late last month to punish drunk drivers who cause death to the same extent as murderers. The Assembly plans to pass the law on Nov. 15.
Meanwhile, police detained the offender, 26, on Saturday, 46 days after the accident, as he has also been hospitalized since the accident.
At the police's request, the prosecution has also asked a local court to issue an arrest warrant, which the court issued on Sunday. The accused man told reporters he would spend the rest of his life trying to make amends for what he had done.