BTS’s Suga fined $11,000 for e-scooter incident under the influence: Yonhap

A member of K-pop megagroup BTS was fined $11,000 – almost the maximum penalty – for driving an electric scooter while drunk, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday.

SUGA, 31, was discovered by police late at night on August 6th lying on the ground next to his e-scooter with a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit.

The singer, who is currently doing compulsory military service as a social worker, has already had his driver’s license revoked.

The Seoul Western District Court “imposed a fine of 15 million won ($11,465) on the 31-year-old artist, whose legal name is Min Yoon-gi, last Friday, a penalty identical to the prosecution’s request,” Yonhap said, citing legal sources.

According to police, SUGA’s blood alcohol level was 0.227 percent – almost three times the legal limit.

Driving with a blood alcohol level above 0.2 percent is punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won under South Korea’s Road Traffic Law.

Seoul’s Military Manpower Administration has said SUGA will be punished under traffic law, not military law, because the incident occurred outside of his official working hours.

In late August, the BTS member wrote a handwritten apology, saying he had “tarnished” the boy band’s name.

“I have left a huge stain on the precious memories I have created together with my members and our fans, and I have tarnished the name of BTS,” he wrote.

SUGA added that he had made a “grave mistake” and was “painfully sorry.”

The seven members of the world’s most popular boy band have been on a self-declared “hiatus” since 2022 due to their military service, which South Korea requires of all men under 30 due to tensions with the nuclear-armed North.