Actor Ko Kyung-pyo's drunk-driving crash injures sanitation worker in their 60s

Actor Ko Kyung-pyo, 36, struck a garbage truck while driving drunk Saturday, leaving one sanitation company worker in their 60s with minor injuries, according to authorities.

According to Yonhap, a worker in their 60s was in the driver's seat of the garbage truck at the time of the crash. The worker did not appear to have sustained serious injuries but complained of pain and was set to receive hospital treatment.

The garbage truck belonged to a private contractor operating under a service agreement with Mapo-gu in Seoul. The vehicle also sustained minor damage.

Ko crashed his car into the garbage truck at around 3:30 a.m. Saturday in Donggyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. A breathalyzer test showed his blood alcohol concentration at 0.15 percent — well above the threshold for license revocation.

Closed-circuit television footage from the scene shows Ko's vehicle failing to stop immediately after the collision, prompting a sanitation worker to run after it on foot. Ko eventually got out of the car and examined it for signs of damage, apparently having realized only then what had happened. He was also seen staggering and talking on his phone.

The incident has renewed concern about a series of late-night traffic accidents involving sanitation workers, with observers saying another tragedy had narrowly been avoided. In the early hours of Nov. 5, a 26-year-old contract sanitation worker in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, died after a truck rear-ended the garbage truck the worker was riding on the back of. On Saturday, a sanitation worker in their 50s was struck and killed by a car while cleaning a roadside drain in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul. In September, three sanitation workers were killed in a single accident in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province.