The Main Story And Facts So Far:
What started as an assault case at the club ‘Burning Sun’ snowballed into a whole smorgasbord of domestic and international1 illegal activities, including prostitution, hidden camera sex taping, human trafficking, drug trading, gambling, police corruption, destroying evidence, tax evasion, money laundering, and organized crime.
Former K-Pop Idol Lee Seunghyun (Big Bang’s Seungri)–who was thought to be owner of ‘Burning Sun’ but was revealed that he wasn’t–has been under fire for several suspected legal violations:
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Acting as a liaison for providing prostitutes (The big thing he is suspected for)2
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Gambling & Drug Use (More or less dropped since there are loopholes and lack of evidence5)
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Gambling was reportedly from when he was overseas 6
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He has taken two drug tests and both came out negative 7
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Tax Evasion (He admitted to this recently)8
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He registered the club that was actually his (‘Monkey Museum’) as a “retail store” (pays ~.089% of profits) in order to pay lower taxes than an “entertainment establishment” (pays ~.19%)
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Bribery
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He (and several others9) are proven to have attempted bribery with public authorities9 10
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According to recent reportings, the eight users of the main chatroom used to communicate most of the organized crime have been identified, several whom are/were celebrities, CEOs, and club owners (see who they are here11).
Lee Seunghyun is not suspected of distributing hidden camera sex videos; a different member of the eight chatroom users (Jung Joonyoung) has now confessed and been arrested for the non-consented recording and distribution of these videos12.
Lee Seunghyun has been and still is denying most of his accusations13. He claims that he was merely the face associated with ‘Burning Sun’ club and therefore is just a victim14 .
My Personal Opinion (Not Fact!)
After reading through all the related articles, I realized that there is too much to put into this summary. That’s how big this scandal is. Reading the chatroom texts made me crinkle my nose with disgust and spit out severely unfriendly curses. How and why these people–people in positions of power and influence as well as ordinary citizens–could objectify women and mock the law as if they were above it infuriates me, since they have clearly shown that they do not have respect for others or even their own morals, and they do not feel any remorse for their actions, but instead feel remorse only because they have been caught. They see women as commodities to exploit instead of fellow human beings.
Feminism has been on the rise around the world, and South Korea’s social structure and acknowledgement of women has been shaken with this scandal. I can only hope this harrolds a fresh wave of change for genuine equality for everyone no matter the industry and that justice will be rightly served.
P.S.
Additionally, here’s a video from AsianBoss’ Youtube channel hitting the streets of South Korea and interviewing South Koreans on their thoughts about the scandal:
Korean’s React To Seungri’s Retirement From Big Bang & Kpop Sex Scandal 15
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