Popular K-Pop Idol Caught Driving Without A License

Police found out due to a blackmail report.

Singer Jung Dongwon, also known as JD1, who has been active as both an idol and a trot singer, is reportedly under prosecution investigation for unlicensed driving, according to MBN.

The Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating him on charges of violating the Road Traffic Act by driving without a license. Jung was accused of driving a car in Hadong, Gyeongnam, in 2023 when he was 16 years old.

In March of this year, Jung was blackmailed by three individuals who had obtained his cell phone. They threatened to leak his private information unless he paid ₩500 million KRW (about $360,000 USD). He handed over about ₩100 million KRW (about $72,000 USD) and got his phone back.

Police later arrested the group following a complaint from Jung’s agency, and Jung was questioned as a victim. However, MBN reports that the phone in question contained a video of Jung driving a truck in Hadong back in 2023. The Gangnam Police concluded that the charge of unlicensed driving was valid and referred the case to prosecutors this June.

His legal representative told MBN that it was “just once out of curiosity,” but admitted that Jung acknowledged his wrongdoing and cooperated with the investigation. Jung had also been caught by police on March 23 of the same year for riding a motorcycle on the Dongbu Expressway, a road restricted to cars. At that time, prosecutors considered his status as a minor and first-time offender, and gave him a suspension of indictment.