According to reports from Yonhap News’ Jeeho Yoo and Korean outlet Naver, Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang has been charged with leaving the scene of a DUI crash in Seoul. It’s Friday in South Korea, and Kang was reportedly arrested at 2:48 a.m. local time with a blood alcohol level of 0.084 percent. That’s a shade over the legal limit in the United States, but it’s well above the 0.05 percent limit in South Korea.
According to Naver, Kang ran into a guardrail then left the scene of the crash on foot. A translated comment from a police official indicates that nobody was hurt.
A police official said, “There is no casualty, only the other vehicle is damaged and the national facilities are damaged.”
We reached out to the Pirates for comment who told us that they were “looking into it” and would comment on it later tonight. We’ll update this post when they do.
Meanwhile, Chicago police were investigating Kang this summer for an alleged sexual assault that supposedly took place in June. As of September, no charges had been filed, but police were still looking into the case.
Update, 9:05 p.m. EST: Pirates president Frank Coonelly issued the following statement.
We have been made aware of the very serious charges filed against Jung Ho Kang early Friday morning in Seoul, South Korea.
We are extremely disappointed in Jung Ho and in his decision process during this matter. I know first hand how foolish and dangerous it is to drive under the influence and am most thankful that, as we understand it, no one was injured.
We will have further comment once we have been able to gather all of the relevant facts and speak with the player.