Prosecutors and police announced Sunday stronger punishments for drunk driving, including confiscating the vehicles of habitual drunk drivers.

The measures, to be enforced from Monday, include intensified criminal charges against passengers and applying additional punishment against drivers that have killed or seriously injured others by driving under the influence.

The move comes as the number of accidents involving drunk driving remains high.

According to the National Police Agency, while the number of drunk drivers caught declined slightly from 269,836 in 2013 to 251,788 in 2014 and 243,100 in 2015, the number of repeat offenders increased from 39,490 in 2013 to 44,717 in 2014 and 44,986 in 2015.

Last year alone, 498 of drunk drivers caused deaths, while 139 were caught driving under the influence more than five times in the last five years.

Prosecutors said they will demand the court confiscate vehicles of those that have committed drunk driving at least five times in the past five years. The vehicles will be seized during the police investigation process under criminal law.

The Criminal Act’s Article 48 states that an item that has been used or was sought to be used in the commission of a crime can be confiscated.

The punishment against passengers will also be fortified by charging them as accessory to a crime or as joint-principal offender for encouraging the driving under the influence. Such measure would apply to cases where the passenger provided a vehicle while being aware of the driver being drunk, invited a drunk person to drive or provided alcohol to those likely to drive afterwards. Punishment of these offenses has been limited in the past. A total of 96 were indicted for neglecting drunk driving since 2002. Of them 89 were fined while five were sentenced to a prison term with probation.

Drunk drivers with 0.1 percent or higher blood alcohol level will face tougher punishment of at least 1 year in prison. A drunk driver who has inflicted four weeks or more worth of treatment to victims will be sent to a formal court instead of a summary trial.

Police, meanwhile, said they will fortify their crackdowns on drunk drivers by moving their surveillance locations every 20 to 30 minutes.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)