A senior South Korean diplomat in Germany has been investigated by local police on allegations of drunk driving, a foreign ministry official in Seoul said Tuesday.

The diplomat rammed his vehicle into a cement wall near a restaurant last Friday in downtown Berlin and crashed into four parked cars, after having dinner at the restaurant, the ministry official said, adding no one was hurt, including the diplomat.

Local police officers were immediately called to the scene and the diplomat, whose name was not released, didn’t take a roadside breathalyzer test, but one officer claimed to detect an odor of alcohol, the official said on the condition of anonymity.

The police questioned the diplomat but did not arrest him because of his diplomatic immunity, the official said.

“We will take necessary measures against the diplomat if the allegation of drunk driving is found to be true,” the official said.

In May of last year, another South Korean diplomat in Germany was accused of getting away with drunk driving.

At that time, the diplomat at the South Korean embassy in Berlin drove while in a state of intoxication and hit a central road divider, but he was not punished because of diplomatic immunity. 

(Yonhap News)