Court Rules "Denial of Naturalization for Foreigners Due to Drunk Driving Is a Lawful Decision"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A court has ruled that the government's decision to reject the naturalization application of a foreigner with a history of drunk driving is justified.

According to the legal community on the 4th, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 5 (Presiding Judge Yangjun Park) ruled against Mr. A, a Nepalese national, in his lawsuit against the Minister of Justice seeking to cancel the refusal of naturalization. The court stated, "The plaintiff's act of drunk driving is behavior that hinders acceptance as a member of our national community," and "Since the plaintiff does not meet the 'good conduct' requirement under the Nationality Act, there is no issue of the defendant's discretionary power being exceeded or abused."

Mr. A married Ms. B, a Korean national, in March 2014 and stayed in Korea under the marriage immigration (F-6-1) visa status from June of the same year. Having had children, Mr. A applied for simplified naturalization approval from the Ministry of Justice in May 2018. However, the Ministry rejected the application in February last year, citing Mr. A's criminal record for drunk driving and his failure to demonstrate good conduct. Mr. A filed a lawsuit challenging this decision.

Mr. A argued, "There are circumstances during the trial process that warrant consideration regarding the reason for the drunk driving." He claimed that at a company dinner where they were drinking together, he thought Ms. B had gone home earlier, but upon seeing her collapsed in the car, he mistakenly believed she was suffering from a stroke and hypothermia and drove under the influence to take her to the hospital.

However, the court judged that this circumstance alone does not justify the drunk driving offense. The court stated, "Drunk driving is prohibited both domestically and internationally due to the risk of traffic accidents and harm to public safety and order," and "The blood alcohol concentration at the time of drunk driving was 0.186%, which is very high and highly blameworthy."

The court added, "There is no limit on the number or timing of naturalization applications," and "It is entirely possible for the plaintiff to prove good conduct again over a considerable period without causing other problems and to naturalize as a citizen of the Republic of Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.