Actor Lee Jae-ryong. [Yonhap]
Actor Lee Jae-ryong. [Yonhap]

The first trial of actor Lee Jae-ryong, 62, who faces charges in connection with a hit-and-run accident, has been pushed back to November.

Judge Lee Jae-wook of the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 10 set Nov. 13 as the new date for Lee's first hearing on charges of failing to take necessary measures after a traffic accident and obstructing a sobriety test, Yonhap reported Sunday.

The hearing had originally been scheduled for Oct. 16, but the court appears to have accepted a request to reschedule filed by Lee's defense counsel on Sept. 4.

Defendants are required to appear in person at trial hearings.

Lee was indicted without detention last month on charges of hitting a median barrier while driving near Cheongdam Station on Seoul subway Line 7 in Gangnam-gu one afternoon in March and fleeing the scene.

He allegedly attended another drinking session immediately after the accident and was apprehended by police about three hours later at an acquaintance's home.

Police determined that Lee had attempted a so-called "drink-stacking" scheme — consuming more alcohol after a drunk-driving accident to obscure evidence of intoxication — and forwarded the case to prosecutors with a drunk-driving charge included. Prosecutors, however, dropped that charge at the indictment stage.

Meanwhile, an amendment to the Road Traffic Act banning sobriety-test obstruction through methods such as drink-stacking has been in effect since June last year. The provision was added following the 2024 case involving trot music singer Kim Ho-joong.


choigo@heraldcorp.com