K-pop sex videos tip of iceberg for South Korea’s spy-cam porn problem
- Scandal involving K-pop stars including BigBang’s Seungri shines a light on country’s appetite for illicit sex videos filmed or distributed without consent
- The problem has even created a cottage industry that provides 24/7 internet monitoring and ‘scrubbing’ – but at a steep price
It started a few years ago with a small group of young men texting each other evidence of their sexual exploits – photographs and videos allegedly made without consent of the women who appeared in them.
It might have ended there, too, if some of the participants were not stars of the multibillion-dollar South Korean music industry known as K-pop.
Some of its biggest names have been implicated in an evolving police investigation that has shaken the country.
Jung Joon-young, a 30-year-old wiry, tousled-haired guitarist who rose to fame through a Korean version of American Idol, was arrested on March 21 on suspicion of filming at least 11 women without their consent and distributing the footage.
Lee Seung-hyun – a 28-year-old better known as Seungri of the boy band BigBang, whose members have been called the “Kings of K-pop” – faces a host of charges, including illegally recording women. Three other stars have apologised, quit their bands or been subjected to police questioning.
The growing scandal has tarnished K-pop with allegations of bribery, police corruption, prostitution and drug-dealing.