Compact Breakdown of Seungri’s Case
Hey guys, following BigBang’s comeback last week, I want to talk about Seungri’s Case. It was hard for me since 2019, when the case first started, amidst public anger and not knowing what was true and what was false. After taking time to dive into the evidence presented in all 25 case hearing documents, I want to do my part as a VIP in helping people understand the case in full and not be misinformed by the misleading and false information that the media (articles you see on allkpop, koreaboo, etc.) have been throwing out. Seungri’s case is a complex one, but please take time to educate yourself on it before spreading hate and condemning him.
To start off, the Burning Sun Scandal is a highly publicized case that all kpop fans have most likely heard of. However, after the initial public outbreak of anger and condemnation of Seungri in 2019, not many people, major media sites included, kept up with the case’s progression which lasted nearly 3 years. To this day, so many people assume that Seungri committed/facilitated prostitution and other sex related crimes, but the evidence presented in the 25 court hearings do not support this. There has been so much misinformation and media manipulation surrounding Seungri’s involvement in these crimes, to which they mixed 3 different cases and made Seungri the poster boy for all of them simply due to his high profile and buzz value that he brings.
Let’s look at the 3 different cases and see how they were mixed together by the media when they were really three totally separate cases.
What the case was about/how it started:
Near the end of 2018, a person named Kim Sangkyo claimed that the club drugs and rapes women after being arrested for assaulting police outside the Burning Sun club. The incident occurred in November 2018 but came to media attention in January 2019.
Police investigated this suspicion that drug crimes and sexual assault were being committed under organized protection at Burning Sun Club, they also investigated police collusion and bribery.
CCTV footages revealed Kim Sangkyo was lying, as he was seen kicked out of the club after harassing women. (Kim is currently on trial for sexual harassment following the filing of criminal complaints from 4 women)
From a simple case of club assault, it became a massive issue due to the involvement of Seungri’s name (see more details below).
Seungri was a minor indirect shareholder of Burning Sun (through his 8% holding in Yuri Holdings, which had a 20% holding in Burning Sun), he had no involvement in the operations of the club and only lent his name as the face of the club and occasionally DJed there.
There were rumors that Seungri was involved/was present during Kim Sankyo’s assault, so police did an investigation and drug test on him. In fact, Seungri had left 3 hours prior to the incident and his drug test came out as negative.
Media portrayal/misinformation of Seungri’s involvement:
Media suggested that Seungri was the CEO/in charge of the club and facilitated drug and sexual assault within the club.
Media headlines stated the club as “Seungri’s club” despite him not actually running the club and only being a 1.6% shareholder.
What court evidence revealed:
Of the 9 charges Seungri is charged with, not a single one relate to drug crimes and sexual assault, to which he had no knowledge of. The only Burning Sun related charge is that of embezzlement of club revenues as a minor shareholder, totally unrelated to the main Burning Sun case regarding drug and sex crimes.
On July 10, 2019, police investigation concluded that there was no evidence of rape and drugs inside the Burning sun, that the allegations were unsubstantiated claims spread by Korean media.
Burning Sun co-CEO Lee Seong-hyun and ex policeman Mr.Kang were indicted for police collusion and bribery acceptance for mediation, the other co-CEO Lee Moon-ho was booked for personal drug usage. None of these crimes had any relation to Seungri.
2. Jung Joon-young’s Molka Case
What the case was about/how it started:
Amidst the Burning Sun case, another explosive case surfaced on March 11, 2019 when an anonymous whistle-blower (a phone technician) reported to lawyer Bang Jun-hyun about the Jung Joon-young (JJY) Molka (Korean for hidden camera) chatroom case.
JJY, a Korean singer distributed secretly filmed sex videos during a 6-7 month period in 2015 through Kakaotalk chats. The group chat where most crimes took place consisted of Korean idol/celebrities such as Choi Jong-hoon (ex. FT Island) and Lee Jong-hyun (ex. CN Blue). JJY admitted to all allegations of illegal hidden camera filming and distribution; more investigation result in JJY, along with Choi Jong-hyun and 3 others, arrested and charged with gang rape and sexual assault.
JJY had numerous chats, some which he sent unconsented sex videos in. Seungri was in a restaurant business chat with JJY, he was not in the molka (hidden camera) chat where illegal sex videos were being sent and had zero involvement in the sex crimes that JJY took part in.
Media portrayal/misinformation of Seungri’s involvement:
Media claimed that Seungri was in the molka chat group and participated in taking/spreading/viewing unconsented sexual videos and sexual assault/rape
For weeks at the start of media reporting, only Seungri’s name was revealed, and so headline’s become “Seungri’s chat” even though he was not in the molka chat and it was Jung Joon-young’s chat. Lee Jong-hyun who was actually a part of the Molka chat was presented as “Mr. Lee” at the time media reported, implying that this was Lee Seung-hyun (Seungri’s real name).
The chats were in excel form, meaning that it was unclear who was in the group chat or private DMs, and so when media and journalists recreated chats, they edited certain DM messages into the group chat, manipulating out of context messages to best suit their story. They later admitted and apologized for it.
What court evidence revealed:
No victims have ever accused Seungri of sexual assault, rape, or spreading unconsented sexual videos. He had no involvement in the entire Molka case, and thus was not even called as a witness due to no knowledge regarding these crimes.
JJY, Choi Jong-hyun, Mr. Kim, Mr. Kwon, and Mr. Heo were accused by real victims for gang rape and sexual assault, in which they were found guilty and arrested (sentenced to 6, 5, 5, 4, and 2 years probation respectively, later appealed to 5, 2.5, 4, 4, and 2 years probation)
Seungri only appears once in a chat with JJY, and the chat is a business chat where they invested in a restaurant together with other entrepreneurs. There are no illegal sex videos distributed in this business chat.
What the case was about/how it started:
Februrary 27, 2019 Seungri participated in voluntary investigation with regards to the Burning Sun Case.
SBS reporter Ms. Kang came forward and put allegation of prostitution on Seungri, saying she “saw Seungri’s birthday party videos and pictures from Palawan, Philippines back in 2017 and felt “negative feelings.”
Seungri retires from the entertainment industry on March 11, 2019 to protect BigBang’s name and better participate in the investigation (He isn’t allowed to hire his own lawyer under YG).
During this time, there were many groundless allegations that came and faded away from the media (E.g. His Halloween police costume that he rented in 2014 as evidence of police collusion, a witness reporting Seungri took cocaine but when Seungri’s lawyer demanded face to face interrogation with witness the police stated there was no witness)
There were a total of 25 case hearings that took place from September 16, 2020 to December 8, 2021. Seungri dilligently and voluntarily participated in over 50 interrogations over 337 days.
Starting from the first hearing, Seungri denied 7 out of 8 charges, only admitting to violation of foreign exchange transaction act concerning overseas gambling. Seungri denies all allegations of prostitution and asks for the lie detector to test his innocence but is denied. An additional charge of special assault instigation was added in January 2021.
9 Charges (*Prosecution used strategy of charge stacking, in which multiple indictments are stacked up against the defendant to make up for a relatively weak case. Notice how none of them have anything to do with the drug and sex crimes in Burning Sun, and #3 to #9 are relatively minor offenses):
Prostitution Mediation (for others between Dec 2015 - Jan 2016)
Embezzlement (hiring legal representative fee)
Embezzlement (528 million won involving Burning Sun revenues)
Violation of Food Sanitation Act (involving Monkey Museum wrongfully registering business)
Habitual Gambling (Las Vegas gambling)
Distributing Obscene Material (single photo of pornographic nature)
Violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act (illegal monetary exchange)
Co-Principle in Violence (Co-defendant in aggravated assault)
Read more here on the Explanation of the 9 charges against Seungri
Translations of all court hearings and evidence provided
Timeline of case hearings and evidence presented
Media portrayal/misinformation of Seungri’s involvement:
Seungri ordered prostitution services to his home and for overseas investors. He has a hefty 9 charges indicted against him (Not pointing out that only 2 are major and the rest a part of prosecution’s charge stacking strategy)
Seungri was uncooperative with investigation and destroyed evidence/did not submit his phone (when in fact he voluntarily participated in all investigations and gave up both phones from the start).
What court evidence revealed:
Police concluded there were no prostitutes at Seungri’s birthday party in Palawan in 2017.
Yoo In-seok, Seungri’s business partner of Yuri Holdings, admits that he paid prostitutes at Seungri’s 2015 Christmas party without Seungri’s knowledge. All witnesses, including the prostitute ladies, said that the prostitution was offered by Yoo In-seok and denied Seungri’s involvement. (FYI. there were no victims in this prostitution case, as monetary value was exchanged for voluntary sexual service, and so both the mediator and the prostitutes are charged)
Several of the prosecutor’s witnesses also claimed under oath that investigators pressured them and altered their words in written statements.
Seungri had remained consistent throughout all 25 hearings, maintaining his innocence with no discrepancies or signs of insincerity. It was in fact the prosecution who presented a case with no material evidence, no victim, no witness statements against him, and no provable motives for commission of alleged crimes. You can read more on the law analysis of the court hearings here.
On August 12, 2021, the military court indicted Seungri for all 9 charges and sentenced him to three years in prison with a fine of 1.157 billion won. The judge focused his decision on the prostitution and prostitution mediation charges, on the basis that it is difficult to say that the defendant did not know, despite all witnesses denying his involvement (The main culprit Yoo In Suk was given 3 years probation and no jail time)
The verdict was heavily morality based, with no citing of specific elements of the indictments and which criminal elements for the crimes were proven to reach the guilty verdicts on each. A big emphasis was on Seungri’s celebrity status to set an example and diffuse public opinion.
The Prosecution was able to create a strategic advantage through charge stacking, stacking multiple indictments which burdens the defense and tips the scale in the favor of the prosecution, a common strategy used to convict individuals for whom the Prosecution may have a weaker individual case. You can read more about the law analysis of the final verdict here.
As per Korean law and culture critics, the sentence was extreme as prosecution had not eliminated reasonable doubt. The principle of presumption of innocence was not even reflected 10%, with 90% being on the principle of presumption of guilt. The verdict reflects the degree moral views play in South Korea’s judicial system, in which the law places undue emphasis on punishment for these situations with the philosophy that “society cannot be allowed to be corrupted”.
South Korea has a conviction rate of 99 percent, meaning that once a case is indicted and goes to court it is more likely to deliver a conviction than an acquittal. There have been concerns in academic and international legal circles that such a high conviction rate may underscore serious issues with the justice system.
Seungri appealed to the High Military Court on September 8, 2021, admitting to all 9 charges, and his 3 year prison sentence was reduced to 1 year and 6 months. It was clear that the court had a strong bias to finding Seungri guilty in order to appease public sentiment, so after nearly 3 years of pleading innocent to 8 out of 9 charges, he gave in and admitted all charges upon appeal for a lighter sentence.
Out of the 9 charges, 7 are minor and Seungri only admitted to 1 regarding foreign monetary exchange in gambling funds; none of the charges relate to the original Burning Sun Case that was about drug and sex crimes, and the 2 that relate to prostitution were conducted by Yoo In-seok to which Seungri had no involvement or knowledge of. Choi Jong-hyun (ex FT Island) of the Molka case, who was convicted of serious gang rape and sexual assault crimes has already been released in November 2021, yet Seungri receives a 3 year sentence based mainly on moral principles against prostitution and gambling that he was not directly involved in and pleads innocent to. Do you realize how absurd this is? The media painted a picture saying Seungri was the central figure to the Burning Sun and Molka cases by mixing details of all three cases together and using Seungri’s name as clickbait headlines for buzz. “Seungri’s Case” eventually became synonymous for “Burning Sun and Molka Case”, nether of the latter which he had anything to do with. The public outburst of anger and a high pressure to eradicate it was directed towards Seungri who had become the face of the scandals. In the end, there was a clear agenda/goal to end the Burning Sun scandal through Seungri’s punishment. While the media was only shouting ‘Seungri! Seungri! Seungri!’, those related to the original Burning Sun drug and sexual crimes, if they even existed in the first place, were forgotten.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this breakdown of Seungri’s case. I tried my best to fact-check everything and link all sources, but please comment/message me if anything is inaccurate and needs to be updated.
All sources and useful resources referred to in this post:
Addressing of allegations, evidence, & misinformation
Rebuttals to Allegations and Misinformation
False Information vs Fact of Seungri’s Case: 1 2 3
Media Manipulation and Misinformation on Seungri’s Case
Translations of the court hearings
Graphic timeline of the trial hearings and evidence
Brief explanation charges put against Seungri
Masterlist of law analysis articles from a lawyer who has been following the case from the start
In-depth interview with Seungri explaining all the allegations
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