Kang receives suspended DUI sentence
BRADENTON, Fla. — Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang received an eight-month suspended sentence from Seoul’s Central District Court for driving under the influence of alcohol, according to a report from the Yonhap News Agency in South Korea on Thursday night.
Mr. Kang’s sentence is suspended for two years, meaning that if he has a
clean record for two years, he will not have to spend time in jail.
Mr. Kang, 29, missed the start of Pirates spring training last month because he had to remain in Korea for his Feb. 22 trial and sentencing. Prosecutors asked for a fine of 15 million won (about $13,000), but the court disagreed, deeming the case serious enough to go to trial.
The DUI arrest Dec. 2 in Seoul was Mr. Kang’s third in his native South Korea since 2009. He played for the Nexen Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization when he received his previous two DUIs, which the Pirates said they did not know about before they signed him.
Mr. Kang crashed into a guard rail early in the morning of Dec. 2. His blood-alcohol level was 0.084, above the Korean legal limit of 0.05 and the U.S. legal limit of 0.08.
A friend of Mr. Kang’s initially claimed to be driving the car, according to the report, but police examined the car’s black box and determined Mr. Kang had been driving. The friend, identified only by the surname Yoo, was fined 3 million won ($2,623).
Mr. Kang has not been disciplined by the Pirates or Major League Baseball. He appeared before the joint treatment panel, as mandated by the collective bargaining agreement, and has agreed to participate in the panel’s recommended treatment program.
The court’s ruling appears to have cleared the way for Mr. Kang to report to spring training in the short term, but the longterm implications are still unclear.
It is also unclear what effect the DUI will have on his ability to obtain a visa. A State Department official told the Post-Gazette in December that the consular officer reviewing visa cases might require a medical examination to determine whether there is a visa ineligibility if someone has been charged with drunk driving.
Mr. Kang received a work visa and played for the Pirates in 2015 and in 2016 after the two previous DUIs. The official said the State Department cannot discuss individual visa cases.