Chef Im Seong-geun, who stepped down from broadcasts after admitting to a total of six prior convictions including drunk driving. His Instagram account

Debate is swirling over whether Chef Im Seong-geun, who has halted all broadcasting activities amid a drunk driving controversy, will open his restaurant.

According to online communities and social networking services (SNS) on the 3rd, speculation spread that the opening had been canceled after a ‘For Sale’ banner was hung on the building of the restaurant slated to open in Paju.

Opinions split between some criticism that it was ‘serves him right’ and other views that it was ‘a shame’.

The restaurant had been scheduled to open even before the drunk driving controversy. Im Seong-geun is still promoting the restaurant’s opening on his Instagram on social networking services (SNS). He wrote, “We are preparing a large space so that we can welcome many Omandungi fans, so please wait a little longer.”

However, it is said that the restaurant is still expected to open. On the 2nd, Im Seong-geun told Star News that a jjageuri restaurant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, would open as planned, saying, “It is not the food that committed drunk driving, is it. My hands did not drink alcohol. It has nothing to do with the taste of the food. The taste of the food does not change.”

A ‘For Sale’ banner on the building where Im Seong-geun plans to open a restaurant sparked rumors that the opening was canceled. Screenshot from an online community

On the 18th of last month, Im Seong-geun uploaded a video to his YouTube channel confessing to three instances of drunk driving.

At about 6:15 a.m. on January 15, 2020, he was caught in a police check while driving approximately 200 meters on a street in Guro District, Seoul, with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.141%.

In addition, on September 21, 1999, he was sentenced to a fine of 5 million won for drunk driving. In 2009 and 2017, he also received summary penalty orders for drunk driving of fines of 2 million won and 3 million won, respectively. These facts were reported by the media, indicating that in fact there were four drunk driving incidents.

It has also become known that he was detained for riding a motorcycle without a license, and he himself confessed to a prior offense of assault causing injury, revealing that he had a total of six prior convictions.

As a result of this fallout, he has been removed from or edited out of the programs in which he appears.