Entertainment Bar Owner and Hostess Bet 5 Million Won on "Downing 700 ml of Liquor in One Go"

Hostess collapses after downing liquor poured into 12 shot glasses
Perpetrators left victim unattended... she was found dead

The owner and manager of a karaoke bar were given suspended prison sentences after they offered a female hostess at an entertainment bar 5 million won to drink a bottle of liquor in one go, then left her unattended after she lost consciousness and collapsed, leading to her death.

Inside an adult entertainment bar. The Asia Business Daily database.

On October 21, Judge Kim Seuk of the Changwon District Court's Criminal Division 1 sentenced the owner, identified as A, and the manager, identified as B, of a karaoke bar in Jinhae-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, to one year of imprisonment, suspended for two years, each, on charges of involuntary manslaughter. The judge also ordered them to perform 120 hours of community service.

Earlier, at around 4:45 a.m. on February 5, 2025, A and B were celebrating a birthday party at an entertainment bar in Jinhae-gu, Changwon, when they proposed a bet to a female employee, identified as C, who was 26 at the time: "If you down a bottle and a half of liquor (about 750 ml) in one go, we'll give you 5 million won in cash."

C then drank all the liquor, which had been poured into 15 shot glasses, in about one minute. Fifteen minutes later, heavily intoxicated, she came out of the room and collapsed on the hallway floor. She vomited several times and remained unconscious, but the owner and manager did not call 119 or take her to a hospital. Instead, they moved C to the floor of the staff waiting room and left work at around 6 a.m. She was found dead about six hours later, around noon.

An autopsy found that the cause of death was acute alcohol poisoning. Her blood alcohol concentration at the time of death was 0.485%, a potentially fatal level. This is far beyond the level at which the body can function normally and is high enough to paralyze the medulla oblongata, the part of the brain that controls breathing and heartbeat. Medical professionals generally consider blood alcohol concentrations of 0.4% to 0.5% or higher to be a "fatal dose" that can lead to respiratory paralysis and death from acute poisoning.

Drinking about 700 ml of liquor with an alcohol content of more than 40% in just one minute overwhelms the liver's ability to metabolize alcohol by dozens of times. The alcohol cannot be broken down quickly enough and travels through the bloodstream directly to the brain. In this process, the central nervous system is rapidly suppressed, causing the person to fall into a coma. The muscles that keep the airway open relax, and the respiratory center becomes paralyzed, potentially leading to suffocation or cardiac arrest.

The court explained its sentencing decision, saying, "The defendants encouraged the victim to drink as part of a bet and left her unattended after she collapsed from drinking. Their actions had the grave and irreversible consequence of taking the life of a young woman in her 20s." It added, however, that it considered in their favor that they admitted to all the charges and showed remorse, and that they paid 130 million won and reached a settlement with the victim's bereaved family, who did not want them punished. The sentences became final after the defendants did not appeal.

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