The Nov. 13, 2025 crash at Bucheon's Jeil Market left 22 people dead or injured; the driver reached settlements with families of three of the four victims
![The scene of the vehicle ramming at Jeil Market in Bucheon. [Bucheon Fire Department]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/08/news-p.v1.20260608.c003d8d39f9c4490a885c6125f71d207_P1.jpg)
A man in his 60s who drove a truck into a crowded market in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, killing four people and injuring 18 others, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison Monday.
Judge Hwang Bang-mo of the Bucheon Branch of Incheon District Court sentenced the defendant, identified only as A, 67, to two years and six months in "geum-go" — imprisonment without forced labor — on charges of causing death in violation of the Special Act on Traffic Accident Processing. Geum-go carries the same custodial conditions as a standard prison term but does not require inmates to perform labor.
"The nature of the offense is grave, given the circumstances of the crime and the fact that multiple victims died," Judge Hwang said in explaining the sentence. He added that he took into account the defendant's admission of wrongdoing and his settlements with the families of three of the four people killed.
A is accused of ramming a one-ton truck into Jeil Market in Wonjong-dong, Ojeong-gu, Bucheon at around 10:54 a.m. on Nov. 13 last year, killing four people. Eighteen bystanders and vendors were also injured, but police closed the case on injury charges without filing them, citing A's comprehensive auto insurance coverage.
An investigation found that A had left the truck in reverse gear when he stepped out, and when the parked vehicle began to move, he got back in, pressed the accelerator and mistakenly shifted into drive. In-cab pedal footage from the truck's black box captured A pressing the accelerator rather than the brake at the moment of impact.
A had been living with moyamoya disease, a cerebrovascular condition, for about five years before the accident but denied any connection, saying it did not interfere with his driving and that he had experienced no problems on the day of the crash. Medical experts who examined the case also concluded that a direct link between the condition and the accident was unlikely.
betterj@heraldcorp.com
