Chef Im Seong-keun shares untold stories amid controversy

Chef Im Seong-kuen / Courtesy of Netflix

It was a Thursday afternoon in an office in Seoul’s Mapo District. Sitting alone across from this reporter, chef Im Seong-kuen broke a long silence.

“I never once considered the matter closed simply because the courts were finished with it,” he said, his face drawn.

“It isn’t easy to endure having mistakes from 30 years ago brought back into the open for everyone to see. But I believed it was the right decision not to hide them.”

The mistakes he refered to are a series of drunk driving offenses that have drawn renewed public attention and scrutiny.

“Ask me anything,” he added. “I’m resolved to answer everything. I always have been.”

Im has four drunk driving cases, dating to 1999, 2009, 2017 and 2020. He has also reportedly been fined in connection with a mutual assault case.

Public attention focused on the pattern of repeated drunk driving offenses and the circumstances surrounding them.

“I failed to grasp the gravity of my actions at the time,” Im admited, referring to his first offense. “People knew even then that drunk driving was wrong and should not be done, but the social atmosphere was different from today.”

He pointed to a shift in public awareness in recent years, driven in part by coverage of serious crashes involving children and mass casualties.

“Now there is a clear sense of alarm,” he said. “Back then, I didn’t recognize the seriousness of it with that level of urgency.”

The complacency and poor judgment of his younger years, Im said, were what led to the repeated offenses. “I was young. I didn’t understand how dangerous it really was,” he said. “That lack of moral awareness led to the repetition, and that is entirely my fault — I have no excuse.”

'Why I didn’t mention using a designated driver'

According to Im, not all of the drunk-driving cases involved him driving immediately after drinking. He cited the most recent incident as an example.

“I called a paid designated driver. I left that part out because I didn’t want to drag him into negative publicity,”

Im’s account differs from what has previously been reported.

“Filming ended after midnight. The team went for drinks in another part of the city and I called a designated driver, who drove me toward my neighborhood,” he said.

What followed was an argument.

“I live near Namguro. I told him I would give the exact address once we reached the area. That’s when we encountered a one-way street.”

The destination was about 150 meters away, but in the wrong direction. Going around would have required a detour of roughly two kilometers.

“I told the driver we would need to take the detour. He asked for an additional fee. I refused and we got into an argument. In the end, he left me there and took off.”

Im then left the car and headed home. A few hours later, he received calls from nearby shop owners asking him to move the vehicle.

As he got back into the driver’s seat and attempted to move the car, a police cruiser pulled up from behind.

“The street was already busy and several people were calling me to remove the car,” he said. “I thought that four or five hours of sleep wouldn’t cause any problem — and that’s how I was caught during a drunk driving check.”

Im said the entire sequence of events was taken into account during sentencing.

“When I made a public apology for drunk driving, I didn’t go into detail about that part because I was concerned it could cause harm to the driver.”

The matter was already being handled by the court at the time, and the designated driver’s company later submitted a transaction history to support Im’s account.

“In the end, I was portrayed as someone who drove a long distance while drunk. But I understand that’s how it looks without this context,” said Im.

Regarding a 2017 incident in which police found him asleep in the driver’s seat while intoxicated, Im recalls that a designated driver had left him on the roadside after an argument.

“I called another driver. I fell asleep while waiting and a patrol officer happened to find me.”

Regardless of the circumstances or context, Im said, the responsibility was entirely his.

“I knew that saying more would make it seem like I was shifting blame onto the designated drivers. Even now, some people may see it that way,” he said.

Im rejected that implication.

“I’ve never tried to dodge responsibility. For a long time, I’ve been in a position where I had to hold myself accountable. For better or worse, I always have.”

‘The hardest part is hurting those who trusted me’

The most wrenching pain, Im said, has not been the public criticism but the sense of betrayal felt by those who supported and believed in him.

He added that it has been especially difficult to see his family and close associates become targets of public anger.

“I expected criticism. If someone I admired had done the same thing, I might have turned away too," he says. "What hurts is that the disappointment did not stop with me and spread to my family, colleagues and the production staff I worked with.”

He said the moment his young granddaughter was mentioned online was particularly devastating.

“For days, I barely ate and survived on water.”

Im added, “The public may forget with time, but this will be a trauma I carry for the rest of my life.”

The chef also addressed his participation in "Culinary Class Wars Season 2."

“I had promised to take part in the second season after missing the first due to scheduling conflicts,” he said. “When the casting offer came, I joined without hesitation to keep that promise. Now I feel deeply sorry that my presence may have overshadowed the efforts of the program, the production team and my fellow contestants.”

Among the many reactions from viewers after "Culinary Class Wars" was released, the one that shook him the most was a letter from an elementary school student.

“The letter began with, ‘I am a sixth grader,’” Im said. “He thanked me for teaching Korean cuisine to the end and wrote about becoming a great chef someday. I read it over and over. After everything that happened, that student was the first person I thought of.”

“I can endure criticism from adults,” the chef said. “But thinking about how I might be seen through a child’s eyes — as a villain who causes trouble — that is what breaks my heart.”

Im closed with an appeal.

“Direct all criticism at me,” he said. “I have no intention of avoiding it. But please stop attacking my family and the people who worked with me.”

He added in a somber voice, “They have suffered enough. I am truly sorry.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.