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On January 18, former HIGHLIGHT member Yong Jun-hyung, who was earlier involved in the Burning Sun scandal, and soloist HyunA shared a picture of themselves holding hands on Instagram, giving rise to speculation of their dating. This has also highlighted Junhyung's alleged role in South Korea's infamous Burning Sun controversy.
The Burning Sun scandal, often referred to as Burning Sun Gate, was a 2019 s*x and entertainment controversy in Seoul, South Korea, allegedly involving several celebrities, ranging from police officers and Korean idols such as Junhyung and former member of BIGBANG, Seungri.
Disclaimer: This article contains references to drug abuse, assault, and s*xual offenses. Reader's discretion is advised.
Why is the controversy named Burning Sun? Exploring South Korea's one of the biggest scandals in a decade
The Burning Sun controversy takes its name from the Gangnam bar, which was co-owned by Seungri, a former member of the boy band BIGBANG. The Burning Sun club co-owners were Lee Seong-hyun, Lee Moon-ho, Lee Seung-hyun, aka Seungri, Kang Hyun-sook, and Kim Geon-ho. The club was located in the basement of Gagnam's Le Meridien Hotel.
The scandal, which implicated well-known figures from the Korean entertainment business such as F.T. Island ex-member Choi Jonghoon, CNBLUE's former member Lee Jong-hyun, and HIGHLIGHT's ex-member Yong Jun-hyung, first surfaced in 2019.
The incident started when authorities started investigating the club in January 2019 on reports that staff members had assaulted a male customer. The controversy came to light for the first time on January 28, 2019, when MBC Newsdesk published a story about the reported assault of a 29-year-old club patron. Kim Sang-kyo, the clubgoer, claimed that while he was attempting to assist a woman who was being harassed s*xually, he was attacked by the club's staff.
The incident initially took place on November 24, 2018, when Kim Sang-kyo was reportedly beaten as he intervened to assist a lady who was being s*xually assaulted at Burning Sun, a Gangnam club co-owned by former BIGBANG member Seungri.
In 2016, allegations of gang rapes were also part of the controversy, and some of the biggest music stars in the world were found guilty of disseminating s*x videos that had been covertly captured. In 2019, shocking developments in the Burning Sun case surfaced online as news outlets investigated to uncover the controversy involving former BIGBANG member Seungri and Junhyung of HIGHLIGHT.
Seven K-pop artists at the top of the charts were detained on allegations ranging from illicit drug possession to group s*xual misconduct, though not all of them received indictments. Now, the latest dating update of soloist HyunA with Junhyung has brought the whole scandal into the light once again, with netizens sharing their piece of mind on social media.
Sports Seoul stated on September 23, 2016, that authorities were looking into singer Jung Joon-young after he was suspected of secretly taping an illicit s*xual activity. This case was related to the Burning Sun affair. His agency at the time, C9 Entertainment, issued a statement saying that the allegations had been dropped and brushing the incident off as a minor miscommunication.
Then, on October 6, 2016, a police inquiry resulted in Jung Joon-young's acquittal in the hidden camera case. MBC's News Desk published a story on January 28, 2019, regarding allegations that a guy, whom the Korea Herald subsequently identified as Kim Sang-kyo, was attacked at Burning Sun. Kim Sang-kyo had discussed the occurrence in the Bobaedream online community before.
Furthermore, the revelation of group conversations where members were sharing illicit s*x videos that they had secretly obtained was one of the facets of the Burning Sun Scandal that most stunned internet users.
F.T. Island ex-member Choi Jonghoon, CNBLUE's former member Lee Jong-hyun, and HIGHLIGHT's ex-member Yong Jun-hyung, aka Junhyung, were the other active participants in the chats. However, Jung Joon-young was noted as being the most active. The name of the chatroom was Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk, where all the illicit and forced s*xual videos of female victims were circulated.
When singer and performer Jung Joon-young admitted to secretly filming himself having s*xual activity with women and releasing the tapes, without his consent or agreement, in the Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk chatrooms, the controversy swiftly expanded to include claims of rape and spy cameras.
Additionally, on February 2, 2019, Dispatch made public purported conversations of date rape that took place between Burning Sun staff members. On February 26, 2019, the Korean media source SBS funE published a story on an alleged December 2015 KakaoTalk group chat in which Seungri discussed plans to pay investors with prostitutes.
The CEO of Yuri Holdings, Yoo In-suk, Choi Jonghoon of FTISLAND, and an unidentified Burning Sun employee were purportedly present in the conversation. It was revealed that Seungri gave the employee instructions to enlist several s*x workers.
Investigations into this specific aspect of the controversy rapidly ensued, leading to charges against Jung Joon-young and Choi Jonghoon for both gang rape and unlawfully obtained footage of female victims. In an investigation, HIGHLIGHT's ex-member Junhyung was first charged with participating in the chats—an allegation which he refuted.
Investigations into the Burning Sun scandal by SBS funE revealed footage from 2015 to 2016, along with exchanges between Jung Joon-young and friends and Seungri in chat groups on the KakaoTalk app. The chatroom exposé instantly impacted a few celebrities, and with the case progressing, more names were added to the list.
Subsequently, HIGHLIGHT's Junhyung explained his relationship with Jung Joon-young during the investigation, stating that the other artist had already provided him with explicit videos. Junhyung mentioned that he was aware of Jong-young's long-standing practice of capturing s*xual videos of women via spycams or other secretive methods. He expressed regret and later contributed to the police investigation as a witness in 2019.
Following accusations of participating in chat rooms and disseminating nonconsensual videos, Junhyung of HIGHLIGHT and Choi Jong-hoon of F.T. Island resigned from their respective groups on March 14, 2019. On March 15, Lee Jong-hyun's CNBLUE agency acknowledged his participation in the scandal and announced the termination of his contract.
More about the Burning Sun scandal revolving around former BIGBANG member Seungri and other K-pop artists
Additional details related to the scandal surfaced, and according to reports by SBS funE, the discussion revealed Choi Jong-hoon, Lee Jong-hyun, and HIGHLIGHT ex-member Junhyung, along with former BIGBANG member Seungri had close contact with the police, which added police corruption to the scandal's several facets. However, Seungri refuted claims of club ownership amidst an ongoing investigation.
In addition, sources uncovered by news outlet MBC indicated that Seungri even contributed 225 million won, or $198,600, to the Burning Club's establishment, proving his legal ownership of the club. Yuri Holdings, where the singer had a co-CEO position, held twenty percent of the shares of Burning Sun at the time.
Yang Hyun-suk, the founder of YG Entertainment, released a statement on January 31, 2019, separating the business from the Seungri scandals. The head of the label stated that YG Entertainment has no connection to the personal enterprises run by its musicians. Additionally, according to the club's founder, Yang Hyun-suk, Seungri only quit as a director because he was about to enroll in the military, which is required of all men in Korea.
In March 2019, Junhyung confirmed his resignation from the K-pop group HIGHLIGHT. Despite not being a member of the main chatroom (Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk), he was aware of Jung Joon-young's illicit camera video. Choi Jonghoon declared his retirement from the entertainment profession and departure from FTISLAND in 2019 after being acquitted in the scandal and proven guilty.
After that, a derogatory one-on-one conversation between Jung Joon-young and Lee Jong-hyun of CNBLUE was uncovered by 8 O'Clock News. Lee Jong-hyun, though, was not present or a participant in the main chatroom on KakaoTalk, where the illicit s*xual videos were circulated. Subsequently, the Sisa Journal published an article on an additional set of texts purporting to show Seungri escorting a business associate.
In addition, Jung Joon-young and Choi Jonghoon were imprisoned for five years in 2020. However, Choi Jonghoon was released from prison on parole in November 2021.
Later, Seungri was allegedly charged on January 30, 2020, with offenses including arranging prostitution, compulsive gambling, and illicit foreign exchange trading. To every accusation made against him, Seungri accepted a guilty plea.
He was released from the military and transported to a civilian jail to complete the remainder of his sentence after the Supreme Court of Korea affirmed his imprisonment of 1 year and 6months on May 26, 2022.
Seungri was released from prison in February 2023, while Jung Joon-young will be released on March 20, 2024.
