3-Line Summary > - Rejection of an objection isn’t the end. According to Article 94, Paragraph 3 of the 「Road Traffic Act」, you can file an administrative appeal within 90 days from the date you receive notification of the objection result. > - Check the 5 reasons for exclusion from leniency. If your blood alcohol level exceeds 0.1%, you were involved in an accident causing injury while drinking, you refused to be tested or fled/assaulted a police officer, you have had three or more accidents causing injury within 5 years, or you have a history of drunk driving within 5 years, leniency based on livelihood difficulties will be difficult. > - You need numbers, not just the words "difficulties in livelihood." You must provide evidence linking your contract, settlement details, income declaration, and dependents to prove that driving is an essential means of livelihood.
Table of Contents 1. Is rejection of an objection really the end? 2. The 0.087% on an early morning commute 3. Why a solo objection was rejected 4. Checked the reasons for exclusion from leniency 5. Reorganized livelihood proof with numbers 6. Filing an administrative appeal and submitting a response 7. The day the decision arrived 8. Relief from drunk driving license revocation: what if the situation is like this?
1. Is rejection of an objection really the end?
I am an administrative agent (administrative scrivener) with an office located in Songdo, Incheon. I’d like to introduce an episode I encountered while working.
Article 94, Paragraph 3 of the 「Road Traffic Act」 is a short provision. It states that a person who has filed an objection to a driver’s license decision and received notification of the result can file an administrative appeal within 90 days from the date of receiving the notification (excluding cases where an administrative appeal has already been filed before the objection result). Knowing or not knowing this one line completely changes the options after the objection is rejected.
Many people think, "It’s been three months since the decision was made, so the administrative appeal period must be over." It is relatively well known that the administrative appeal period is 90 days from the date you are notified of the decision. However, it is not widely known that when a separate objection procedure is provided, as in the case of a driver’s license decision, a new 90 days is given from the date you receive the objection result.
This article is the story of someone who almost gave up due to that misunderstanding. He was a late 20s delivery driver who received a drunk driving license revocation decision, filed an objection on his own, and received a rejection notice.
2. The 0.087% on an early morning commute
First, an email arrived. It included a notification of license revocation, a rejection notice for the objection, and photos of the objection form he had written himself. The subject line was, "I heard the period has passed, but is there any way?"
Looking at the notices in order, the situation was as follows.
- He was a individual business owner delivery driver who had a consignment contract with a foodstuff company and delivered to restaurants in the early morning using a 1-ton refrigerated truck.
- The company’s dinner party ended around midnight, and he slept for about four hours before driving out at five in the morning. He was caught in a traffic stop in front of the logistics center with a blood alcohol level of 0.087%.
- There was no accident. He immediately complied with the test. He had been licensed for 7 years and had no history of drunk driving.
Under the 「Road Traffic Act」, a blood alcohol level of over 0.08% is subject to license revocation. It was a so-called hangover drive, but it was difficult to challenge the decision itself because the standard was exceeded.
What he would lose was clear. The refrigerated truck was a car purchased on a 3-year installment plan, and monthly installments were being paid. He lived with his single mother and was contributing half of his younger brother’s college tuition. The consignment contract stated, "The contract can be terminated if the driver’s license is suspended or revoked." The company said they wouldn’t terminate it immediately, but would wait until they found another driver.
3. Reasons Your Objection Application Was Rejected
About a month after receiving the administrative penalty, he submitted an objection application to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency after finding a form online. He met the deadline, as it was within 60 days of the date he received the penalty. He attached three documents: a letter of remorse, a letter of support written by his mother, and a single "Delivery Work Performance Confirmation" from the company.
About a month later, he received a notice of rejection. One sentence in the reasons for rejection stood out: it stated that there was insufficient evidence to acknowledge that driving was a crucial means of supporting his family's livelihood.
The problem lay elsewhere.
The company's confirmation stated only, "Performing delivery work for our company." It didn't specify the amount of income, whether that income was solely from driving, or which family members depended on that income. This is information that an employee could easily demonstrate with a certificate of employment and pay stubs, but for an individual business owner operating under a contract, it isn't summarized in a single document. He didn't understand this difference, and the Objection Review Committee judged based solely on the submitted documents.
The relevant department wasn't being overly strict. The review of an objection application is a process of checking whether the submitted documents meet the established mitigation criteria. If the documents are lacking, the result will be as it is.
He said he heard from an acquaintance on the day he received the rejection notice that "90 days have already passed since the date of the penalty, so an administrative appeal would be late." He was therefore almost giving up.
4. First, We Confirmed the Grounds for Exclusion from Mitigation
On the scheduled afternoon, he came to the office. I had already received and reviewed the documents via email, so I was about halfway through the review. The first thing I did that day was recalculate the deadline.
I confirmed the date of sending the rejection notice and the date he actually received it. According to Article 94(3) of the “Road Traffic Act”, a new 90 days are granted from the date he was notified of the result of the objection application, leaving him with over 80 days remaining. I also took a photo of the instructions for appealing printed at the bottom of the notice. This instruction will serve as evidence if a dispute arises regarding the deadline later on.
He stared at the notice for a while after I said, "It's not late."
The second thing I did was verify the grounds for exclusion from mitigation. There are specific cases in the list of mitigation criteria in Appendix 28 of the “Enforcement Regulations of the Road Traffic Act” where mitigation is not permitted.
- Blood alcohol content exceeding 0.1%
- Traffic accident involving human injury while driving under the influence
- Refusal of alcohol testing, evasion, assault on the investigating police officer
- Three or more traffic accidents involving human injury within the past five years
- History of drunk driving within the past five years
If any of these apply, it will be difficult to have a livelihood-based mitigation accepted. In these cases, even carefully prepared claims can be a waste of time and money, so I always check this at the beginning of the consultation. I asked him to obtain a driving record and the results showed that he did not meet any of the five criteria. The level was below 0.1% at 0.087%.
However, I made it clear what to expect. Being classified as livelihood-based does not automatically guarantee mitigation. The committee compares the severity of the violation with the loss of benefit from the penalty. Changing a revocation to a suspension is only a portion of the cases, and more cases are rejected. I also explained that if mitigation is granted, it typically changes the revocation to 110 penalty points, which is equivalent to a 110-day suspension.
5. Reorganizing Proof of Livelihood with Numbers
Since the reason for the rejection of the appeal was "lack of evidence," the task in the administrative appeal was clear. It wasn't about repeating the same arguments, but about filling in the missing information.
The day after I asked for the delivery settlement details, 212 screenshots of a delivery app arrived in my inbox. They had taken a picture of each day's delivery list on a single sheet. The effort was appreciated, but there was no way the committee would review 212 pages. I advised the company on how to receive a monthly settlement statement as a PDF, and two days later, three months' worth came back neatly. From that day on, their emails always included a greeting like, "This time, there aren't many pages."
The evidence was reorganized into four categories.
① Proof that the source of income is driving - A copy of the consignment contract (with a note highlighting the clause that the contract is based on the vehicle and license) - Recent 3-month monthly settlement statements - Prior year’s comprehensive income tax return — demonstrating no income other than business income
② Proof that the license is essential for that income - Contract clause regarding suspension or cancellation of the license - A confirmation letter from the company stating, "The contract will be maintained only for the duration of finding a replacement driver" — this time, I requested that they specifically detail the facts.
③ Proof that there is a family dependent on that income - Family relationship certificate and resident registration certificate (living with mother) - Tuition payment receipts for the sibling and bank transfer records in their name - Documentation confirming that the mother has no separate income
④ Proof of continued diligent living after the penalty - Vehicle installment payment schedule and recent payment history - Records of wages received for assisting with loading and unloading at a fellow driver’s vehicle after the penalty — demonstrating that they have been finding ways to make a living without a license.
When gathered, it was found that only the petition was overlapping with the documents submitted during the initial appeal. A revised statement of remorse was not written. Instead, a separate statement was prepared detailing why they drove in the early morning and what they have changed since then, truthfully. The agreement with the company to adjust the start time by switching delivery shifts with a colleague after a company dinner was also included. Specific remedial measures are more persuasive than vague promises.
6. Administrative Appeal and Response
The driving license penalty imposed by the Provincial Police Agency falls under the jurisdiction of the Central Administrative Appeals Committee. The appeal was filed online. Our office assisted with the preparation and submission of the appeal and a list of supporting documents, and we jointly planned the order in which to present the information to the committee.
The grounds for the appeal were organized into three categories.
1. Does not meet the reasons for exclusion from mitigation — verifying the figures, accident history, and driving record with the driving record certificate and enforcement records. 2. Driving is an important means of family livelihood — using the four categories of documents mentioned above. 3. The loss of benefit from the penalty is excessive — arguing that the cancellation penalty violates the principle of proportionality, considering the risk of contract termination, installment vehicle, and dependent family members.
An application for a suspension of execution was also considered. However, I explained that suspensions of execution are rarely granted in drunk driving license revocation cases due to public welfare, and that even if applied for, substantive preparation takes priority, and they decided to focus on the main case.
About two weeks after filing the appeal, the response from the imposing authority arrived. It contained the expected content. "Drunk driving exceeding the standard requires strict penalties in the public interest, and driving under the influence is no exception." And there was one additional point: that since the family’s circumstances had already been reviewed during the appeal stage, there were no new circumstances.
This became the focus of the supplementary submission. The documents submitted during the appeal stage and the documents submitted during this appeal were placed side by side in a table. The left column contained a single confirmation letter and a petition, while the right column contained the contract, settlement statements, income tax return, and supporting documents for dependents. This clearly demonstrated that the circumstances that were previously deemed "lacking evidence" during the appeal stage were now supported by evidence. Regarding the fact that it was driving under the influence, there was no excuse. The fact that the standard was exceeded was acknowledged, and it was logically appropriate to challenge the appropriateness of the penalty level above that.
7. When the Decision Arrived
It had been a little over two months since we filed the claim when the decision arrived. It was a partial allowance. The order to revoke the license was cancelled, and it was changed to an 110-day driver’s license suspension.
Reading the reasons for the decision shows what the committee considered. It stated that the blood alcohol concentration was within the mitigation criteria, there was no accident history, and it was confirmed through documents that driving was the main means of livelihood. Conversely, any reasoning along the lines of "the hangover suggests a lack of intent" was not mentioned separately. It turned out that not relying on that argument from the beginning was correct.
After receiving the decision, I confirmed with the relevant police station when the suspension period would end and what needed to be done to regain the license, and organized the dates for them. I sent a copy of the decision with the dates to the company, requesting them to maintain the contract, and they responded that they would do so.
On the Monday after the suspension period ended, I received a short message from them. It stated that they were back in the driver's seat of the refrigerated truck at five in the morning. This email also had only one attached file.
Administrative procedures often stop people’s lives for several months. The most rewarding part of this work is to help them regain even a little of that lost time.
8. Relief from Driver’s License Revocation for DUI: What to Do in These Situations
Relief from driver’s license revocation for DUI depends more on calculating deadlines and organizing documents than on simply saying "it’s unfair." If you are in a similar situation, check the following first.
- ① Deadlines: The deadline for filing an objection is 60 days from the date of the decision, and the deadline for filing an administrative appeal is 90 days from the date you were notified of the decision. If the objection is rejected, you are given a new 90 days from the date you receive the notification of the result. Keep a photo of the instructions on the notification.
- ② Reasons for Exclusion from Mitigation: Exceeding 0.1%, accidents causing human injury, refusal to be tested, fleeing the scene, assault, three or more accidents causing human injury within five years, or a history of DUI within five years – if any of these apply, livelihood-based mitigation will be difficult.
- ③ Proof of Livelihood: Employees need a certificate of employment and pay stubs, while individual business owners and consignment drivers need documents such as contracts, settlements, and income tax returns to show that their income comes from driving.
- ④ Support Relationship: Prepare documents such as a family relationship certificate and bank transfer records for tuition and living expenses to show who relies on that income.
- ⑤ Preventing Recurrence: Concrete measures such as adjusting work methods and completing training are more persuasive than a letter of reflection.
Driver’s license decisions vary depending on the circumstances, history, and livelihood situation, so the results also vary. Requirements and criteria need to be confirmed through the relevant authority for each individual case. If you are preparing for an administrative appeal regarding a driver’s license for DUI or a license suspension due to accumulated penalty points, we recommend checking the deadlines first.
This article is based on actual consultation cases and has been reorganized, and the characters, names, place names, and figures appearing therein are not related to any specific individuals or events.
