Actor walks free over wife's death in car crash

Park Sang-won and the late Kim Hwa-ran (inbox) / Screen capture from YouTube

Actor Park Sang-won has avoided jail after a court reduced his sentence over a car crash in which his wife, actress Kim Hwa-ran, 52, died in September.

On Thursday, Gwangju District Court’s Mokpo branch sentenced Park, 48, to four months’ jail, suspended for one year.

On Dec. 10, prosecutors had sentenced him to a year in jail on a charge of violation of the Act on Special Cases concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents.

Park, who had pleaded not guilty, said he would not seek to appeal, saying he did not have the will to continue the court battle and would “accept the judgment and live honestly for my wife to see from up there,”

Park crashed his car in Shinan-gun, South Jeolla Province, on Sept. 18. Park said he was turning a corner when he unexpectedly saw a trailer. He tried to avoid it, but crashed. He said there was an unusual amount of sand on the street.

Mokpo police suspected Park might have intentionally crashed his car to kill his wife and get her insurance money.

Police said Park and Kim, 52, were driving to a home being built for them.