A drunk vehicle speeding down the road is like a time bomb loaded with explosives. Nevertheless, the lenient rulings shown by the South Korean judiciary continue to drive deep nails into the hearts of victims and their bereaved families.

The shameless excuse of the suspect claiming they cannot remember due to being drunk, and the judiciary's attitude of reducing sentences under the name of mental weakness, can no longer be tolerated. Drunk driving is not a mistake or negligence, but a clear act of murder by dolus eventualis.

Our society has lost countless innocent lives to drunk driving accidents over the years. Ordinary office workers on their way to work and young children on their way to school have lost their lives in front of the rampage of intoxicated drivers. However, looking into the rulings leaves only a sense of emptiness. The courts have repeatedly reduced sentences on the grounds that the defendant is deeply reflecting, is a first-time offender, or committed the crime impulsively. While the bizarre reality where being drunk is used like a get-out-of-jail-free card repeats itself, the suffering experienced by the victims and their families has become a lifelong hell.

In particular, the mental weakness sentence reduction system has become a primary tool exploited by criminals. Acknowledging diminished capacity as a mitigation factor even though one deliberately drank to impair responsibility before committing a crime directly contradicts legal common sense. The judiciary's practice of treating crimes committed under the influence as grounds for leniency rather than aggravated punishment is equivalent to denying the very reason for the existence of law.

Alcohol cannot be a get-out-of-jail-free card for a crime; rather, it should be strictly dealt with as an aggravating factor. Looking at the responses of advanced foreign countries makes our reality shameful. In places like the United States and Europe, causing a death through drunk driving results in murder charges and sentences of decades or life imprisonment.

This is because a firm social consensus has settled in that grabbing the steering wheel is like holding a murder weapon in one's hand. On the other hand, we still consistently resort to probation or slap-on-the-wrist punishments, talking about giving criminals a second chance.

Such leniency merely sends the wrong signal to potential murderers that they can commit another crime. Now, the judiciary must completely shed its outdated leniency. If protecting the lives and safety of the people is the state's most important duty, the judiciary must sternly punish drunk driving crimes to awaken social awareness.

It is time to drop a powerful legal hammer, including life imprisonment, on violence and slaughter committed under the influence of alcohol. We must no longer abet crimes in the name of tolerance and prove the severity of the law through actions. We urge a resolute and determined change in the judiciary's attitude so that innocent deaths are no longer repeated.

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