SEOUL — A drunken driver crashed into the barrier gate at one of the main entrances into Camp Walker on Sunday morning, killing one of his passengers, according to the military and South Korean police.
The 23-year-old South Korean driver, identified by local police only by his last name of Kim, registered a blood alcohol content of 0.109 percent when he was tested at 8:30 a.m., two hours after the accident, according to U.S. Army Garrison - Daegu spokesman Philip Molter. The blood alcohol limit in South Korea is 0.05 percent.
The three passengers also were South Koreans with no affiliation with the military, Molter said. No Americans or South Korean security guards were injured in the incident.
Molter said the car was traveling at approximately 50 kilometers per hour, or about 31 miles per hour, when it hit the barricade at Gate Four. Kim and his passengers, two women and a man, were taken to Daegu area hospitals.
A 25-year-old man who was a passenger in the car died after the crash, a spokesman for the Nambu police station in Daegu said.
Molter said Kim drove past a speed bump leading to the entry gate and past several signs warning drivers that they were about to enter a U.S. military base. South Korean security guards stepped in front of the car and motioned for Kim to stop, he said.
“They did all they could do,” Molter said.
Molter said the fact that Kim was able to drive to the entry gate did not raise security concerns about access to the base.
“It (security procedure) worked exactly the way it was supposed to,” he said.
No charges had been filed against the driver as of Monday afternoon, and police were still investigating the accident, the Nambu police spokesman said.
