BBC’s Burning Sun Documentary: What Was the K-Pop Scandal?

Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

BBC’s Burning Sun documentary looks into the South Korean sex scandal that highlighted the crimes of popular K-Pop stars and celebrities, including Jung Joon-young. The documentary pieces together the story of two journalists, Park Hyo-Sil and Kang Kyung-Yoon, who brought the scandal to light. Hyo-Sil and Kyung-Yoon, who investigated the sex abuse case, speak in the TV documentary and share their respective narratives.

According to BBC, allegations against K-pop star Jung Joon-Young first surfaced in 2016. At the time, he was the singer and songwriter for the popular band Drug Restaurant and a renowned TV star. Park Hyo-Sil was the first to report accusations that Joon-Young secretly recorded sex footage of his then-girlfriend. The crime is called “molka” in South Korea. Hyo-Sil claimed her newspaper editor told her it was a “big case being investigated.” The girlfriend, however, recanted the allegations, and Hyo-Sil had to take the fall for it, enduring abuse and harassment for years.

Eventually, Kang Kyung-Yoon picked up Hyo-Sil’s story and found disturbing evidence that implicated Joon-Young. During the investigation, several other celebrity names appeared in the Burning Sun scandal. Kyung-Yoon reportedly uncovered a group chat which contained sexually explicit videos, images, and chats detailing gang rape.

The investigation resulted in Jung Joon-Young’s arrest alongside other male K-pop stars. These stars were Choi Jong-Hoon of the rock band FT Island and BigBang’s Seungri. Other information during the investigation revealed the involvement of a senior police contact who was protecting the abusers.

In BBC’s Burning Sun documentary, Park Hyo-Sil and Kang Kyung-Yoon open up about the scandal. They also discuss the abuse and grave consequences they faced as they reported on the story.

Burning Sun scandal: Who are Park Hyo-Sil and Kang Kyung-Yoon?

BBC stated that Park Hyo-Sil was a reporter for a Seoul-based newspaper when she first wrote on the Burning Sun scandal. In September 2016, Hyo-Sil claimed she first learned that Jung Joon-Young’s girlfriend had accused him of secretly recording her during sex. Hyo-Sil said in BBC’s Burning Sun documentary that she didn’t realize “how massive it was going to be.” Her story made headlines shortly after she published it, and “media outlets went into a frenzy.”

Joon-Young’s management team soon released a statement, calling it an “unimportant incident inflated by the press.” They also called for a police investigation into the allegations. Hyo-Sil claimed the singer’s fans soon blamed the girlfriend for making false accusations. This caused the girlfriend to recant the allegations, per the outlet. Additionally, Hyo-Sil claimed in the BBC documentary that “the media was the villain” for Joon-Young’s fans and she “bore the brunt of it.”

After her story was published, Park Hyo-Sil claimed she faced abuse and harassment online and received threatening emails. People also threatened her newspaper editor, asking him to “sack her.” They told the editor that if he didn’t fire her, “we’re going to set fire to your building.” Hyo-Sil further talked about the death threats she received and that she feared for her safety. “My husband was incredibly worried and told me not to go into the office, not to leave the house because it seemed so dangerous,” she said.

Per BBC, Hyo-Sil elaborated on the harassment in the BBC Burning Sun documentary. She said, “I started receiving phone calls in the early hours,” which continued for hours. She stated that when she considered not answering the phone, people “started sending obscene images.” The journalist added, “I was pregnant and I was in such shock. I was so mentally shattered that even going out of the house was difficult.” She blamed the abuse and the stress for her “two miscarriages,” because of which she is currently “childless.”

Jung Joon-Young music career advanced while Park Hyo-Sil faced harassment. BBC’s documentary on the Burning Sun scandal stated that in 2019, found himself amid new allegations. That year, Kang Kyung-Yoon, an entertainment reporter for SBS, Korea’s largest broadcaster, found evidence to bring Joon-Young down.

Reportedly, during the initial investigation in 2016, Joon-Young handed his phone to a private forensics company. In 2019, someone anonymously released his phone data, which then reached Kyung-Yoon. She then picked up Hyo-Sil’s story, intending to complete it. According to BBC, the leaked information consisted of a KakaoTalk group chat. These messages date back to 2015 and 2016.

The reporter revealed she found sexually explicit videos and images of unconscious women. Kyung-Yoon said in the documentary, “My heart still hurts when I think of that.” As mentioned earlier, the group had other popular K-pop boy band members, including Choi Jong-Hoon and Seungri. While investigating the matter, Kyung-Yoon also learned that a senior police contact had been protecting the abusers. Kyung-Yoon called the men involved “disgusting” who played “around with women as if they were toys.”

In BBC’s Burning Sun documentary, Kang Kyung-Yoon talked about the findings in detail. These leaked details consisted of messages exchanged between the KakaoTalk group members, including one instance where they discussed gang rape. Kyung-Yoon claimed that they had discussed the gang rape of a woman after she fell and hit her head. One individual said in a message exchange, “I got so scared yesterday… It sounded like her skull was cracking. Jung Joon-young’s following message stated, “Literally the funniest night of my entire life.” Not long after the story was out, authorities arrested Joon-Young.

Kyung-Yoon, who was pregnant at the time, also spoke about the abuse she faced. She said people “called me femi-bitch. Pregnant femi-bitch. Left-wing femi-bitch.” She recalled feeling scared, thinking, “Something might happen to the baby. My heart was incredibly lonely and exhausted.” Despite all the abuse she faced and the harassment people directed towards her child, she claimed, “I have no regrets.”

The court cases against all men involved resulted in convictions, reported BBC. Jung Joon-Young received five years in prison on the charges of gang rape and molka. Choi Jong-Hoon, for his role in the gang rape, got a two-and-a-half years of sentence. Meanwhile, Seungri appealed for an 18-month sentence for obtaining prostitutes for investors, embezzlement, molka, and inciting violence. Lastly, a senior police contact, who faced charges for allegedly protecting them, went free after an acquittal.

Kang Kyung-Yoon, now a mother of one, revealed that the harassment continued long after the expose. Kyung-Yoon claimed that her and Park Hyo-Sil’s efforts did not go in vain. She said, “We threw a single pebble into a huge pond… It has calmed down again but I hope it’s still there in people’s memories so that if something like that happens again, we can call it out much earlier.”

BBC’s Burning Sun documentary is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and the BBC World Service YouTube channel. BBC News TV channel will the documentary as a series in June 2024.

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