Elise Hu. The former pop idol was there to undergo police questioning over charges of supplying prostitution services. A total of four Korean entertainers have abruptly retired from the industry this week, in a widening scandal linking the glossy world of K-pop with a series of seedy sex crimes.
The biggest players β Seungri, of the influential all-male group Big Bang, and the year-old singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young β have both apologized to the public for their involvement in twin, interlocking cases of exploitation of women.
To catch you up: Investigators booked Seungri on Monday on suspicion of supplying prostitutes for businessmen at one of Seoul's upscale night clubs, setting off a media feeding frenzy that ensnared the second star, Jung, and potentially more famous men to come. Seungri is denying charges of brokering prostitution. But in statements to the press, Seoul Metropolitan Police say an investigation into his Kakaotalk messages Kakao is South Korea's dominant messaging platform found evidence of "pimping" β they claim he was not only offering different types of women to investors, but he was part of a separate group chat with the other star, Jung.
That's where the details get more sordid. Police say the near-dozen participants in the Jung chatroom were sharing hidden camera footage of sex with drugged and unconscious women. Korean wire Yonhap reports Jung is under investigation for secretly recorded and shared videos of his own sexual encounters with at least 10 women he filmed between and Jung, who rose to fame on a Korean equivalent of American Idol , is cooperating with police and released the following statement:.
I filmed women without their consent and shared it in a social media chatroom, and while I did so I didn't feel a great sense of guilt More than anything, I kneel and apologize to the women who appear in the videos who have learned of this hideous truth as the incident has come to light. The other men who have apologized and suddenly retired from the industry after being implicated in the chat rooms are Choi Jong-hoon, singer from FT Island, and Yong Junhyung, singer from Highlight, who admitted that he was in the chat and saw the videos and did not speak up.
