Comedian Lee Jin-ho arrives at the Yeoju Branch of Suwon District Court on Tuesday. [Newsis]
Comedian Lee Jin-ho arrives at the Yeoju Branch of Suwon District Court on Tuesday. [Newsis]

Comedian Lee Jin-ho, 40, has avoided prison after a court handed him a suspended sentence on charges of habitual gambling and drunk driving.

The first criminal division of the Yeoju Branch of Suwon District Court sentenced Lee on Tuesday to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years.

Lee was indicted on charges of gambling approximately 660 times over about a year starting in 2023, wagering a total of around 870 million won ($633,000) through illegal online gambling sites. He admitted to the gambling in 2024 and suspended his broadcasting activities. Around that time, it emerged that he had borrowed about 2.3 billion won from fellow entertainers — including BTS member Jimin, comedian Lee Su-geun and singer Young-tak — as well as from loan companies, only to squander the money on gambling and other expenses without repaying it.

Lee also faces charges of driving roughly 100 kilometers from Incheon to Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi Province while intoxicated in the early hours of Sept. 24, 2025, after his broadcasting hiatus began. Police measured his blood alcohol concentration at 0.11 percent — above the threshold for license revocation — and a subsequent blood test conducted at his request returned a reading of 0.12 percent.

On April 1, Lee collapsed at his home from a cerebral hemorrhage and was rushed to hospital. He regained consciousness after treatment in the intensive care unit and was moved to a general ward, later completing rehabilitation and being discharged in late May. Prosecutors indicted him without detention on May 29.

Lee has partial paralysis as a result of the cerebral hemorrhage, leaving him with difficulties communicating and moving. He appeared at Tuesday's sentencing hearing on crutches.


paq@heraldcorp.com