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
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.
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.
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.
Choi denied the allegations, but said he would follow Seungri and Jung in retiring from show business.
