A few days ago, BTS member Jungkook made headlines for being involved in a car accident in which he allegedly violated traffic laws.
It was reported on November 4 that the Seoul Yongsan Police Station booked Jungkook and questioned him on the charge of violating the Road Traffic Act. Jungkook was driving his Mercedes-Benz in the neighborhood of Hannam in Yongsan District on November 2 when he violated a traffic regulation and ran into a taxi. Both Jungkook and the taxi driver received treatment at the hospital for bruises.
Big Hit Entertainment released a statement about it, admitting fault and saying they had settled with the other party.
This is a statement regarding member Jungkook’s car accident. The police have not closed this case yet, so we cannot reveal the exact details, but Jungkook was driving his car last week when he had a minor collision with another vehicle due to his own mistake. Both the victim and Jungkook did not sustain any major injuries. Jungkook admitted that he violated the Road Traffic Act immediately after the accident. The scene of the accident was resolved and police questioning was completed according to the due process, and an amicable settlement was made with the victim afterwards. We once again apologize to the victim, and we also express apologies for causing concern to fans.
Police also said he was not driving drunk.
I didn’t cover this story immediately because … well, it was a fender bender with no major injuries, so I could wait for more to emerge. Today police confirmed that Jungkook would be booked for multiple violations.
On November 8, the Seoul Yongsan Police Station confirmed that he has now been booked for violation of the Road Traffic Act and violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents. Big Hit Entertainment previously revealed that Jungkook reached a settlement with the taxi driver. Regarding this, a source from the police explained, “He was booked due to confirmation of the taxi driver receiving harm. Settlement is a personal matter and is not related [with the police investigation].”
From the sound of things, this seems a lot more Taeyeon forgetting to stop at a red light and less Nichkhun drunkenly running over a motorist.Seems like he ran a red light or made a turn when he wasn’t supposed to or something like that, which is bad and careless driving but it happens.
Given the relative lack of seriousness in the issue, it was amusing then that it seemed to turn into something greater after fans tried to do the whole “clear the searches” thing and a journalist ended up covering the fandom phenomenon.
The response was … predictable.
Then this trended in Korea following the reaction to her translating reports about Jungkook’s accident.
Like … just why? All of this seems so unnecessary. Nobody reasonable was ever going to “cancel” Jungkook over what seems like at worst being at fault for a fender bender, but now it’s been like Streisand effect‘d into a whole other disturbing thing.