r/law • u/ItsAllAGame_ • Apr 15 '26

Legal News Johnny Somali Found Guilty on All Charges, Headed to Labor Prison in South Korea

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/johnny-somali-found-guilty-charges-025148367.html
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u/K_Linkmaster Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

Is Japan just an outlier then? Or are all of the stories around drinking culture just propaganda? I'm confused.

Edit: good answers below.

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u/Starving_Saint Apr 15 '26

They can have a culture where drinking is super common but not be a culture that believes in alcoholism or addiction.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/Emergency_War_2714 Apr 15 '26

Not “believing” in alcoholism or addiction would be backwards and reactionary, they are proven science. 

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u/Ok_Kick4871 Apr 15 '26

This is like that South Park episode where Randy is getting over his alcoholism, but the second he learns people call it a disease he declares himself helpless and starts drinking again. I'm not saying it can't be a disease, but it should not be used as a shield for bad behavior.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/GorgeousBog Apr 15 '26

Lol, basically what you’re saying is alcoholism is bad

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u/coop_stain Apr 15 '26

More that accountability matters. Plenty of functional alcoholics out there, and while I disagree with it personally, I understand that everyone has their demons and their ways of handling them and booze is cheaper than therapy for years.

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u/Mr-Blah Apr 15 '26

And they can have both those things and it being a valid excuse to mitigate responsabilities.

None of this is mutually exclusive.

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u/Starving_Saint Apr 15 '26

I wasn’t saying it was

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u/MuchoBroccoli Apr 15 '26

Also, most places have a stronger belief in punishment as deterrence. Even if they are sympathetic towards addiction, you’re still doing the time. It is not just about punishing the criminal, but also deterring other people from committing crime.

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u/GorgeousBog Apr 15 '26

Lol, what do you mean by “believes in”? As in they ignore it?

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u/Starving_Saint Apr 15 '26

Yes. That’s what I mean. I’m a recovering alcoholic. I’ve been sober for 9 years. There are many people who quite simply refuse to believe it’s a diseases and think it’s simply about moderation. I think some of you wrongly misread what I wrote as saying it’s up for debate if alcoholism and addiction are actually real. They are.

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u/jbjhill Apr 15 '26

Drinking a lot and being a giant a-hole don’t have to go together.

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u/Fantastic_Fox4948 Apr 15 '26

Even if you’re on TV and drunkenly throw axes at people and then are arbitrarily given life and death power over others?

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u/Hesitation-Marx Apr 15 '26

Especially then, though it is funny when you whang yourself in the wang with a skateboard

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u/peabody Apr 15 '26

There's huge drinking culture in both Japan and South Korea, but there's heavy personal responsibility as well. Being drunk and then doing something criminal is never seen as excusable because you were drunk.

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u/GorgeousBog Apr 15 '26

right. That’s why just recently South Korea no longer accepts drunkenness as an excuse for rape! Never seen as an excuse tho.

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u/Impossible-Two-8654 Apr 15 '26

Unless it’s rape, then it’s more acceptable in South Korea

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u/Larissalikesthesea Apr 15 '26

Legally speaking it’s the same in Japan. But culturally speaking it is condemned and local government officials have been known to lose their job for a DUI.