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The Korea Times

By Bahk Eun-ji
Corrupt ties between South Korean police and the country’s entertainment industry are being uncovered by a widening scandal involving prostitution, drug use, sexual violence and sex videos secretly filmed by several K-pop stars.
A senior police superintendent working at the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) headquarters, surnamed Yoon, has admitted his ties with K-pop singer Seungri and Yu In-suk, a businessman who set up a company named Yuri Holdings with Seungri.
It was alleged in a group chat including Seungri, Yu and six others, including singer Jung Joon-young, that a senior police official was watching out for them. In the group chat, Yu boasted of his connections with a ranking official, saying he had helped cover up irregularities at a bar which Seungri, Yu and Jung cooperated on in 2016.

Yu told police last week that the official was Yoon, who was then superintendent at Gangnam Police Station in charge of supervising entertainment establishments in the posh area of southern Seoul. The Burning Sun club involved in the current scandal is located in the area.
Yoon was questioned on Friday and admitted he had played golf and dined with Yu, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA).
Seungri also told police he dined with Yoon three times in 2017 after an introduction by Yu. Yoon denied he had accepted bribes from Yu or others in return for special favours, but the KNPA still suspended him from duty.

A lower-ranking officer at Gangnam Police Station was also accused of dereliction of duty for his alleged failure to investigate irregularities at Burning Sun, the station said.
The officer was in charge of a case involving an underage person being admitted to the club last July, but he dropped the case, citing a lack of evidence. It was alleged that the Burning Sun co-owners bribed officers at the police station to cover up the case.
The SMPA said the officer closed the case without following normal procedures and was charged with dereliction of duty. But it said it had not found yet whether he was paid any bribes.
How the K-pop sex scandal exposes Korea’s culture of toxic masculinity
The scandal started when a club customer accused the managers of Burning Sun of attacking him last November. Allegations then surfaced that managers of the club drugged female customers with gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), known as a “rape drug”.

Co-owner Seungri, or Lee Seung-hyun, announced his retirement from K-pop last week after he was charged with procuring prostitutes for businessmen at some of Seoul’s most fashionable nightclubs, including Burning Sun.
CNBLUE’s Lee Jong-hyun admits part in K-pop sex scandal
As police investigated Seungri, they discovered he was a member of a chat room where videos of men having sex with women, some unconscious, were being shared.
K-pop stars Jung, Yong Jun-hyung from Highlight and singer Choi Jong-hoon from FT Island were also members of the group and have admitted filming or watching the videos.

It is also alleged that Yoon helped stop Choi’s conviction for drink-driving from being reported by the media three years ago. One conversation also showed a police officer had sent him a congratulatory message on his birthday.
‘You raped her’: read texts of K-pop idols accused of sharing sex videos
Choi denied the allegations, but said he would follow Seungri and Jung in retiring from show business.
Read the full story at the Korea Times.


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K-pop idols

K-pop sex-and-drugs scandal involving Big Bang star Seungri lays bare corrupt ties to police

Seungri, a member of South Korean K-pop band Big Bang, arrives to be questioned over the sex bribery case at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Photo: Reuters

South Korean singer Jung Joon-young arrives for questioning on accusations of illicitly taping and sharing sex videos on social media, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Seungri, center, member of a popular K-pop boy band Big Bang, bows on his arrival at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 14, 2019. After their stunning retirement announcements, two K-pop stars including a member of the superstars Big Bang are facing police questioning over a series of interlocking scandals that have roiled South Korea for weeks. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Seungri performs live at Burning Sun in 2018

K-pop merchandise is displayed outside a store in the Myeongdong shopping district of Seoul on March 15, 2019. - Female K-pop stars and actors fearing stigmatisation have rushed to issue denials that they appear in sex videos secretly shot by male singers, illustrating women's worries about victim-blaming in the face of South Korea's enduring conservative social values. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) / TO GO WITH SKorea-gender-social-music, FOCUS by Claire LEE

‘You raped her’: Jung Joon-young and Seungri’s texts about sharing sex videos

K-pop idol chat reconstruction

Korea Times

Translated message from South Korean singer and TV personality Jung Joon-young’s chat group conversations show the singer talking about rape, drugging women and filming them without their consent.

K-pop label YG is literally in crisis after sex and drugs scandals involving Seungri, G-Dragon and others

T.O.P

G-Dragon

Seungri seen in Burning Sun in 2018

Seungri from BigBang is embroiled in controversy of the date rape drug GHB being used at a nightclub linked to the singer.

K-pop is an infectious disease, not a cultural export to be proud of

Yonden Lhatoo highlights the tragic suicide of boy band idol Jonghyun to argue that the so-called Korean Wave of cultural entertainment is an affliction that the world would be better off without

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2016, file photo, Kim Jong-hyun, a member of South Korean K-pop group SHINee, poses for the media before a showcase for the group's album "1 of 1" in Seoul, South Korea. Kim Jong-hyun, better known by the stage name Jonghyun, was found unconscious at a residence hotel in Seoul and was pronounced dead later at a nearby hospital, Seoul police said Monday Dec. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

Fans of Kim Jong-hyun, lead singer of top South Korean boy band SHINee, react as a hearse carrying his coffin leaves during his funeral at a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, December 21, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Members of K-Pop idol group Girls' Generation perform during the Korean Pop Culture and Art Awards at the Olympic Hall in Seoul November 21, 2011. At the government-organised award ceremony, Girls' Generation received a Prime Minister's Citation award for their attempt to spread "the Korean Wave" to the world, the South Korean Ministry of Culture said. The "Korean Wave" or "Hallyu" is part of a cultural phenomenon comprising girl and boy bands as well as South Korean soaps. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak (SOUTH KOREA - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)

Kim Jong-hyun, or Jonghyun, pictured performing in Hong Kong with his band SHINee in 2016, was one of the original luminaries of K-pop. Photo: AP

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Music


A senior South Korean police superintendent is investigated on suspicion he helped cover up irregularities at the Burning Sun nightclub in Seoul
The nightclub, co-owned by Seungri, was used to provide sexual services to foreign investors, it is alleged



A senior South Korean police superintendent is investigated on suspicion he helped cover up irregularities at the Burning Sun nightclub in Seoul. Co-owned by singer Seungri, it was allegedly used to provide sexual services to investors.


K-pop sex-and-drugs scandal involving Big Bang star Seungri lays bare corrupt ties to police

A senior South Korean police superintendent is investigated on suspicion he helped cover up irregularities at the Burning Sun nightclub in Seoul The nightclub, co-owned by Seungri, was used to provide sexual services to foreign investors, it is alleged

A senior South Korean police superintendent is investigated on suspicion he helped cover up irregularities at the Burning Sun nightclub in Seoul

The nightclub, co-owned by Seungri, was used to provide sexual services to foreign investors, it is alleged