The late Goo Ha-ra of the South Korean girl group KARA has helped shed light on alleged collusion between police and brothels during the ‘Burning Sun’ scandal.
On May 19, BBC News Korea released a documentary titled ‘Burning Sun: Exposing the secret K-pop chat groups’. Journalist Kang Kyung-yoon, who appeared in the documentary, said Goo played a significant role when she covered Burning Sun Gate in 2019.
Kang, who first uncovered the group chats of singers Seungri, Jung Joon-young, and Choi Jong-hoon—three of the key figures in the Burning Sun scandal—found conversations suggesting that high-ranking police officers were turning a blind eye to criminal activities.
In the conversations, messages like, “I saw that he texted with the Police Chief, and it seems like everything will be solved even if someone exposes us to the police,” and “Yesterday, a guy from another store took a photo and exposed it to the police, but the Police Chief told me not to worry and that everything will be solved.”
Kang said, “Identifying the police officer in that chat was a very important key point and the most unresolved issue, but Goo Ha-ra’s involvement opened the door for it.” Goo was the first to reach out, saying, “I really want to help you.” Goo had personally known Choi Jong-hoon since their idol trainee days and was also acquainted with Seungri and Jung Joon-young.
Kang asked Goo to investigate the identity of the “Police Chief” in their chat. Goo called Choi Jong-hoon and convinced him to say who the police officer was. Kang explained that “Goo helped Choi Jong-hoon get it out of his mouth that the “Police Chief” (mentioned in the group chat) was not a fictional character but a real person.”
Goo also told Kang, “I’ve seen them on their phones, and there’s a lot of bizarre stuff in there (the group chat).”
Goo reportedly dared to help the Burning Sun investigation because she was also a victim of digital sexual abuse herself. “Goo told me that ‘I’m a victim of revenge porn, too,’” Kang recalled. In October 2018, Goo had received threats from her ex-boyfriend that he would distribute illegally filmed footage of her. The Supreme Court upheld a one-year prison sentence in October 2020 for Goo’s ex-boyfriend, who was charged with assault and intimidation. However, Goo died in November 2019 before his sentence.
Yoon Gyu-geun, a senior superintendent who was referred to as “Police Chief” in group chats, was put on trial for allegedly giving Seungri advance notice of a crackdown on his club Burning Sun and for allegedly receiving stock in exchange for dropping a lawsuit filed by the CEO of KOSDAQ-listed Cubes (now Nokwon C&I). He was also accused of trading stocks using undisclosed information provided by Cubes CEO (violation of the Capital Market Act) and of having Cubes delete his mobile phone messages during the Burning Sun investigation (tampering with evidence).
Meanwhile, Seungri, a key figure in the Burning Sun case, was released from prison in February last year after serving one year and six months on charges of habitual gambling, prostitution, and procuring prostitution. Jung Joon-young, who was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 for allegedly drugging and gang-raping women, was released from prison in March this year. Choi Jong-hoon was released from prison in November 2021 after serving two and a half years of his sentence.
The documentary ‘Burning Sun: Exposing the secret K-pop chat groups’ received over 1 million views within a day of its release.
