Kim Ho-joong's DUI hit-and-run cost him every commercial in a week

Kim Ho-joong won the 2020 season of Mr. Trot, the television singing contest that turned ordinary singers into national celebrities in South Korea. Within months he had signed more than ten advertising contracts — convenience stores, home appliances, insurance — and his model fees were reported to exceed 2 billion won. He was, for a moment, the most bankable face in Korean entertainment.

On May 9, 2024, Kim Ho-joong crashed into a taxi while driving drunk in Goyang and left the scene. The taxi driver was treated for injuries and later settled with him, but the police opened a hit-and-run investigation and arrested him within days. The commercial reaction was immediate: KBS asked him to leave the cooking show Pyeonstorang and suspended him from future appearances, and GS25 cancelled the launch of the convenience meal product he had won on the show.

Within a week, the advertising industry had begun cutting ties. Industry estimates put his potential penalty fees at 200–600 million won, on top of the model fees already forfeited. In November 2024 he was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison; the appeals court confirmed the sentence on April 25, 2025. Every one of the contracts that had paid him 2 billion won was gone.

Arrest, not conviction, triggered exits: GS25 and KBS moved first, and penalty clauses billed him 200–600M won on top of forfeited fees.

Mr. Trot's 2020 win converted Kim Ho-joong into a national brand — more than ten advertisers signed him within months, paying model fees reported above 2 billion won.

The May 2024 hit-and-run made him a legal risk rather than an asset; advertisers in South Korea routinely terminate on arrest, not on conviction.

GS25 and KBS moved first, cancelling a product launch and a TV appearance within days — visible exits that invited every other sponsor to follow.

Penalty clauses converted his past success into a bill: industry estimates put the compensation at 200–600 million won on top of forfeited fees.

Advertisers do not wait for verdicts: the arrest alone triggered contract exits and penalty clauses. Income earned from likability becomes a liability the moment the likability breaks.

The appeals court upheld Kim Ho-joong's two-and-a-half-year prison sentence on April 25, 2025, closing the case. His advertising portfolio had been emptied within a week of the incident — GS25 never released the winning convenience product, KBS removed him from Pyeonstorang, and the remaining sponsors terminated or suspended their contracts. Industry estimates of his penalty payments ranged from 200 to 600 million won. The case became the reference point for how quickly South Korean advertisers cut ties with a talent under criminal investigation.