The Burning Sun scandal, also known as Burning Sun gate, was a 2019 entertainment and sex scandal in Seoul, South Korea, which involved several celebrities, including Korean idols of popular K-pop groups, and police officials. It began on January 27, 2019, when MBC Newsdesk reported a November 2018 alleged assault of a male clubgoer at the Burning Sun, a prominent nightclub in Gangnam, by a staff member. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency investigation soon turned to one concerning the club's alleged involvement in sexual assault or date rape, prostitution, drug trafficking and police corruption.
The chatroom exposé immediately affected multiple celebrities, leading to their criminal prosecution and resignation from the entertainment industry. One of the club's directors was Seungri from the boy band BigBang, and after being charged with sexual bribery, he announced his retirement from the industry on March 11, 2019. Allegations of rape and spy cams quickly followed when singer and entertainer Jung Joon-young confessed to secretly filming himself having sex with women and sharing the videos, without their knowledge or consent, in the Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk chatrooms. This resulted in his resignation from the entertainment industry on March 12, 2019. Subsequently, SBS funE reported the discovery of illicit videos dating from 2015 to 2016, as well as conversations Jung shared in chat groups on the social media app KakaoTalk with Seungri and other acquaintances. On March 14, Yong Jun-hyung of Highlight and Choi Jong-hoon of F.T. Island resigned from their positions, after allegations they were participants in the chatrooms. The agency for Lee Jong-hyun of CNBLUE admitted his involvement on March 15.
Legal proceedings for criminal investigations generated by the scandal continued into 2021. Although several police officers were disciplined for their actions involving the Burning Sun club, the two highest-profile cases resulted in trial acquittals. Burning Sun's co-CEO, Lee Sung-hyun, testified that he had paid a former police officer named Kang to cover for an underage clubgoer incident. However, Kang's one-year prison sentence was overturned for lack of evidence. A senior police official, Yoon Gyu-geun, was arrested for allegations of bribery and mediating favors for the Burning Sun club and others. His first trial was well-publicized and ended with an innocent verdict. Among other verdicts, the club's co-CEO, Lee Moon-ho, was sentenced to a year in prison for habitual drug use, including ecstasy and ketamine in Gangnam clubs. One of the club's promoters, MD Cho, was sentenced to four years and six months for drug use and smuggling. Police conducted drug sweeps at entertainment venues that yielded hundreds of drug-related arrests, a large percentage involving ecstasy and GHB, a common date rape drug; along with cases of sexual assault and rape, and the filming of illegal videos during drug use. Seungri's business associate, Yoo In-seok, admitted to providing potential Japanese investors with prostitutes and received a suspended sentence of three years probation and an embezzlement charge. Seungri's entertainment agency head, Yang Hyun-suk, admitted to gambling and illegal money transactions in Las Vegas casinos and was sentenced to paying a fine, along with three YG and YGX associates. Seungri's case concluded in January 2022 in a military appeals court, with a reduced prison sentence of one year and a half and a fine. The nine charges included habitual gambling overseas and illegal money transactions, prostitution mediation and purchase, violence instigation, violation of the Specific Economic Crimes Act, embezzlement, sharing illicit photos, and a business operations violation.
The club's scandal was heightened in the media, exacerbated by Seungri's wide popularity and his possible business connections to it. The allegations of sex crimes added to the country's "epidemic" of what is called molka, a Korean word for the online distribution of nonconsensual sex videos taken of women. The scandal became a hotly contested topic among various political parties, who argued over how to handle it.
Background
Seungri's background as a businessman
The multilingual Seungri – who has multiple business interests – was popularly seen as an "ideal cultural export".
Lee Seung-hyun, better known under his stage name Seungri (Korean: 승리; lit. '"victory"') was the youngest member of the South Korean boy band BigBang at age 28 at the time of the scandal, having debuted at age 15. Seungri had developed a second career in business, and had experience in several business ventures including a Japanese ramen restaurant chain, cosmetics, a Belgian waffle cafe, and a record company co-founded with his agency YG Entertainment. He invested in biotechnology and nanotechnology and the development of masks for yellow dust protection, and failed at real estate and electronic businesses. He closed his successful vocal and dance academy, the Joy Dance – Plug In Music Academy, which he first opened in 2011, in his home town of Gwangju, with branches around South Korea, after some parents complained about an "overly friendly" teacher-student relationship at one location. In November 2018, he entered the IT sector when he became the Creative Director and model for HeadRock VR, a franchise brand of the AR product company SocialNetwork and affiliate Mediafront; and assisted in the opening of the Headrock VR theme park in Singapore.
Jessica Oak at Billboard wrote, "Seungri has forged and built an empire all his own during his 13 years in the industry. The superstar has become known as a thriving entrepreneur with business ventures in food, nightlife and music labels". He had been the subject of a popular TV show on SBS, about his life and businesses, filmed "speaking four languages and throwing lavish parties in luxury resorts." In August 2018, Baik Su-jin, a journalist at The Chosun Ilbo, described his story, among other rich celebrities, as a "rags-to-riches" story, adding that Seungri was a late bloomer in the spotlight, only coming into his own after the other BigBang members were absent. Seungri said, "I had a tough time outshining other members of the group, so I studied foreign languages." He said he had tried to succeed at business, in part, because he felt "overlooked and underappreciated" by fans, being the youngest of the famous group, and business was a place where he would not have to compete with the other band members. Seungri said his popularity had been a business asset and he had looked for partners that would benefit from it."
His last studio album The Great Seungri was a play on his nickname, from the novel The Great Gatsby. After his involvement in the scandal, a popular culture critic in Seoul, Lee Moon-won, said "the multilingual Seungri", with "has multiple business interests" had been seen as an "ideal cultural export", deemed to be a hard-worker by his fans. Lee pointed out the irony of Seungri's having been found to be thoroughly comparable to The Great Gatsby protagonist, not only for his good looks, business acumen, and lavish parties, but because both had sought "illicit and corrupt activities to gain fame and wealth." Just before the scandal broke, Seungri had released his first solo Korean language studio album in July 2018, and was conducting his first solo tour, The Great Seungri, after 13 years as a group member. He was filling the void for the band's hiatus while all remaining four members were in military service, and waiting for his own enlistment in March.
Opening of the Burning Sun
The Burning Sun nightclub, (클럽 버닝썬, Club Burning Sun), opened at the Le Méridien Seoul hotel in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, on February 23, 2018, and closed during the investigation of the scandal on February 17, 2019. The upscale hotel had just replaced the Ritz Carlton Hotel and opened in September 2017, months before the Burning Sun's opening. The nightclub was often called "Seungri's Club", due to its close affiliation with him.
The Burning Sun advertised itself as "the most elegant and finest club in South Korea". It included a basement level for EDM, a second level for hip hop, VIP admittance, 60 VIP tables near the DJ box and stage, spacious dance floors and accommodation for 1000 guests. The drink menu listed Armand de Brignac champagne and Louis XIII cognac sets, priced in the thousands of dollars. The sound system was set up by Funktion-One, a specialized overseas company, whose sound expert, Tony Andrews, was invited to the club for sound tuning. Seungri served as one of the DJs, along with other local and visiting guest artists like R3hab.
The club's CEOs were Lee Moon-ho and Lee Sung-hyun, a former board member of the company that operated the Le Méridien Seoul hotel. Seungri was one of seven in-house directors, and resigned from his position in January 2019. Seungri was the co-founder of Yuri Holdings, a shareholder of Burning Sun Entertainment that operated the club and owned as much as 20 percent in shares. It was established in March 2016, with Yoo In-seok, to manage his restaurant and entertainment businesses. Seungri resigned from his position in mid February and Yoo resigned on March 13. Seungri described his relationship to the club in an interview with The Chosun Ilbo, published on March 22, 2019, saying that CEO Lee Moon-ho, a friend of his, was the operator of the club and in charge, while Seungri's name was used for marketing, after his initial investment of 10 million won (around US$8,800). In the interview, Seungri said the breakdown of Burning Sun's shares were as follows: owners of Le Méridien Seoul, 42 percent; Lee Sung-hyun (CEO of Le Méridien Seoul), 8 percent; Yuri Holdings, 20 percent, Madam Lin (Taiwanese investor), 20 percent; and Lee Moon-ho, 10 percent.
Seungri's affiliations with other clubs
Monkey Museum was a Gangnam club to associate Seungri's name, and opened on July 27, 2016, in the upscale neighborhood of Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu. It was a trendy hip hop lounge-style bar, co-owned by Seungri, Yoo and a group of K-pop singers. During the scandal's investigation, it became one of the first non-relevant charges against Seungri, of illegal operation as a bar, while it was registered as a restaurant; and later involved allegations of embezzlement of funds by Seungri and Yoo.
Arena (or Club Arena) was a dance club that opened in 2014 in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu. It was known as a TV and sports celebrity hang-out, had a reputation for a very strict dress code, and could accommodate 700 guests with separate EDM and hip hop dance floors.
It was another club Seungri was affiliated with, and where he was alleged to have made arrangements for investors to receive sexual favors. The owner, last name Kang, and another of the club's operators, were arrested on tax evasion charges during the scandal's investigation.
Seungri's friends and scandal participants
Seungri was close to celebrity friends Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon, who joined him when his agency YG Entertainment launched their newest YG Republique restaurant in August 2017, in Kuala Lumpur. Jung, a singer-songwriter and television celebrity, and the key person in the illicit sex video portion of the scandal, had been a friend of Seungri for several years. In 2015, he showed off their relationship by telephoning Seungri for a chat during a live radio broadcast. In August 2018, Seungri joined him on the travel show Salty Tour, where Jung was a main cast member, and made comments that generated disciplinary actions by the Korea Communications Standards Commission due to their gender insensitivity or potential "sexual harassment". During a broadcast episode on a trip to Xiamen, China, Seungri asked a female guest (singer and actress Sejeong) to pick a favorite amongst the five male cast members and pour them a drink; which viewers complained about.
Development
2019: Scandal begins and cases develop
January 28, Kim Sang-Kyo assault at Burning Sun reported
On January 28, 2019, MBC Newsdesk reported on an alleged assault of a 29-year-old clubgoer, Kim Sang-kyo, at the Burning Sun nightclub. Kim claimed that on November 24, 2018, during his stay at the Burning Sun, he was assaulted by staff while attempting to help a woman who was being sexually harassed. When the Yeoksam police arrived, Kim was arrested as the assailant and was booked on seven charges, including criminal battery, an indecent act, defamation and the obstruction of the performance of official duties. He further claimed that the police assaulted him after he was placed under arrest. The incident came to media attention one month after the incident, when Kim made a post on the South Korean online forum BobaeDream titled '경찰의 민간인 집단폭행 및 버닝썬 집단 구타사건' (transl. police mass assault on a civilian and the Burning Sun mass beating incident) and posted photos of his injuries along with the names and ranks of the police who allegedly assaulted him. In January 2019, Kim posted a petition on the Petitions to Blue House website detailing his assault by Burning Sun staffers and mistreatment by police; and further stating that female customers were drugged by staffers and the club had a corrupt relationship with district police. Another current petition on the website called for the investigation of the club scene, in general, and druggings occurring there. The Petitions to Blue House website, known domestically as Cheong Wa Dae gungmincheongwon (Korean: 청와대 국민청원; lit. 'citizen petition to the Blue House') was a petition website based on former President Obama's We the People. Kim's petition had received the benchmark 200,000 signatures prompting an official response.
Initial allegations at Burning Sun
During the early stages, the scandal evolved around Kim's complaint against the Burning Sun nightclub, including any possible crimes that may have occurred there, and the identities of responsible parties. The initial January 28 report of the Kim incident, by MBC Newsdesk, included two CCTV videos of the club's security footage purportedly showing Kim's assault inside the club, and a second one showing a woman being dragged down a hallway, and alleged to have been drugged. A KBS report soon added that an alleged former employee had talked about illegal drug use in the club's VIP rooms. An additional report by MBC, on February 14, included allegations of a purported VIP client of the club, who said staff solicited him in text messages, offering women who were available for sex, after readying them with date rape drugs. He claimed to have received a video clip from staff, showing "an intoxicated woman being raped".
By January 31, 2019, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) had taken charge of the investigation, which included allegations of local Gangnam police corruption and collusion with the club's owners, and had assigned a team to look into the club's allegations of sexual violence, drug use, Kim's arrest and any connection with the local police station. The SMPA said their quick response and follow-up investigation was due to media attention garnered by the BigBang K-pop group member Seungri's affiliation with the club. They also said they had expanded their probe of drug-related allegations to all Gangnam clubs, due to club marketing by independent "merchandisers" or "MDs" for many different clubs.