Driver in his 60s sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison for wrong-way driving accident at City Hall Station, South Korea

The driver involved in a wrong-way car accident at City Hall Station in Seoul last July was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison in the first trial.
On the 12th, the Seoul Central District Court indicted him on charges of violating the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling (causing death).
The court sentenced Cha (69), who is currently in prison, to seven years and six months in prison. Imprisonment is a punishment that deprives the inmate of their physical freedom in a correctional facility. However, unlike a prison sentence, no hard labor is required.
At around 9:30 p.m. on July 1 last year, Cha was driving a car out of the underground parking lot of a hotel near City Hall Station when he drove the wrong way and then ran onto the sidewalk, killing nine people and injuring five.
Cha was put on trial on suspicion of causing a sudden stop in the car. Since the incident, Cha has consistently maintained that the car's sudden start was the cause of the accident. The prosecution has argued that the cause of the accident was not the sudden start, but Cha's mistake of stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake.
The court ruled that the act was a negligence and sought a prison sentence of seven years and six months at the closing hearing that preceded this.