Power in the K-pop world can corrupt and the 2024 BBC Eye documentary — Burning Sun: Exposing the Secret K-pop Chat Group — is a testament to this. Highlighting the dark side of the K-pop industry, Burning Sun delves deeper into the 2019 sex and drug scandal involving prominent K-pop idols, including Seungri, a former member of the K-pop boy band BIGBANG.
The BBC Eye documentary has garnered widespread attention and over 1.6 million views on YouTube, just two days after its release on 19 May 2024.
What is Burning Sun: Exposing the Secret K-pop Chat Group about?
A documentary by BBC World Service’s award-winning investigations team BBC Eye, Burning Sun: Exposing the Secret K-pop Chat Group brings together the spine-chilling first-person narratives of Park Hyo-sil and Kang Kyung-yoon — two brave Korean reporters who paid a high personal price for investigating and exposing the horrendous sexual assault committed by BIGBANG’s Seungri and his friends, as well as the illicit activities associated with Seoul’s VIP nightclub Burning Sun.
How did the Burning Sun K-pop scandal begin?
It was in September 2016 that Park Hyo-sil, a Seoul-based news reporter, first got a scoop involving K-pop band Drug Restaurant’s popular singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young. Park’s source informed her that Jung’s girlfriend had accused him of secretly recording her during sex, a crime called molka in South Korea. After Park published the story, Jung’s management team was quick to release an official statement which called the investigation an “unimportant incident inflated by the press.” Meanwhile, fans too blamed Jung’s girlfriend for lying and the investigation of the case took a backseat.
In 2019, another Korean reporter Kang Kyung-yoon obtained forensic data from Jung’s phone which revealed that Jung, BIGBANG member Seungri and Choi Jong-hoon of rock band FT Island were all part of a secret K-pop chat group on KakaoTalk, a South Korean instant messaging app, and were involved in drugging and sexually assaulting females at a prominent nightclub in Gangnam, Seoul. The K-pop idols also illegally filmed the victims at Burning Sun and shared the footage with each other via the group chat.
Meanwhile, a clip from the 2024 BBC Eye documentary Burning Sun, showed Seungri, one of the club’s directors, grabbing a woman’s arm roughly and seemingly threatening her at one of the club’s parties saying, “Shut up! Shut up, follow me!”, all the while bragging about being a famous K-pop idol from BIGBANG.
In addition, reporter Kang also discovered disturbing exchanges between Jung, Seungri and Choi, detailing the gang rape of an unconscious woman. When one of the men in the chat admitted to the woman being hurt, “It sounded like her skull was cracking,” Jung replied, “Literally the funniest night of my entire life.”
The disgusting revelations shocked Kang but what disappointed her the most was retrieving messages that proved that the K-pop idols involved in the Burning Sun scandal and the chat group were being protected by a senior police official, Yoon Gyu-geun.
Following this, Kang published her thoroughly investigated story and the authorities arrested the first culprit, Jung Joon-young. Soon, more female victims spoke up and pressed charges against the two other K-pop stars. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s investigation also proved club Burning Sun’s alleged involvement in prostitution, drug trafficking and police corruption. Consequently, the club was closed on 17 February 2019.
What happened to BIGBANG’s Seungri and the other convicted K-pop idols?
Jung resigned from the entertainment industry on 12 March 2019 and was sentenced to five years in prison for gang rape and molka.
Choi resigned from his position on 14 March 2019 and was to serve two-and-a-half years for his part in the gang rape.
Seungri resigned from the Korean entertainment industry on 11 March 2019. He was convicted of sexual bribery, gambling, prostitution mediation and purchase, violation of the Specific Economic Crimes Act, embezzlement, sharing illicit photos, embezzlement, molka and violence. He was sentenced to 18 months and a fine on appeal.
Senior police official Yoon was arrested for bribery and mediating favours for the Burning Sun club.
All the perpetrators have now been released.
What happened to the two journalists?
While justice was served, South Korean journalists Park and Jung became subjects of ruthless trolls and death threats initiated by the fans of the convicted K-pop idols, following the Burning Sun scandal.
Recalling the horrific days, Park reveals in the BBC Eye documentary, “They were sending me death threats. My husband was incredibly worried and told me not to go into the office, not to leave the house because it seemed so dangerous.”
Discussing how her unborn child had to bear the brunt of all her stress at that time, Park says, “I was pregnant and I was in such shock. I was so mentally shattered that even going out of the house was difficult. After that, I had two miscarriages and now I am childless.”
While Kang is a mother to a beautiful daughter today, she reveals in Burning Sunthat she was pregnant during the scandal and “it was the first time in almost five years of marriage that I’d managed to fall pregnant, so I was so scared, in case something might happen to the baby. My heart was incredibly lonely and exhausted.”
Kang adds that there was also a harassment campaign against her that lasted three years and some of its “most shocking” comments were directed at her child. However, “I have no regrets”, she concludes.
Where to watch the K-pop documentary on the Burning Sun scandal?
Burning Sun: Exposing the Secret K-pop Chat Group is available for viewing internationally on the BBC World Service YouTube channel here.
The K-pop documentary is also available to be viewed in Korean language on the BBC News Korean YouTube channel here.
(Hero and featured image: Courtesy Screenshot/BBC World Service/YouTube)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– What is the Burning Sun scandal documentary about?
It is a documentary by BBC World Service’s award-winning investigations team BBC Eye thatbrings together the spine-chilling first-person narratives of Park Hyo-sil and Kang Kyung-yoon — the two brave Korean reporters who paid a high personal price for investigating and exposing the horrendous sexual assault committed by BIGBANG’s Seungri and his friends, as well as the illicit activities associated with Seoul’s VIP nightclub Burning Sun.
– What is the Korean group chat scandal?
In 2019, Korean reporter Kang Kyung-yoon obtained forensic data from Korean singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young’s phone which revealed that Jung, BIGBANG member Seungri and Choi Jong-hoon of rock band FT Island were all part of a secret K-pop chat group on KakaoTalk, a South Korean instant messaging app, and were involved in drugging and sexually assaulting females at a prominent nightclub in Gangnam, Seoul. The K-pop idols also illegally filmed the victims at Burning Sun and shared the footage with each other via the group chat.
– Which K-pop idols were involved in the Burning Sun scandal?
The K-pop idols involved were Korean singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young, BIGBANG member Seungri and Choi Jong-hoon of rock band FT Island.
