NIGHT TERROR
Sinister spy cams & ‘VVIPs’ who ORDERED date rape – Inside ‘world’s sickest nightclub’ that exposed dark heart of K-Pop
Videos of abuse in a secret room under the club went viral
IT was South Korea’s biggest, flashiest nightclub, owned by one of its biggest stars.
But the glamour of the Burning Sun hid the dark heart of the country’s K-Pop scene - where VIPs could select girls to order and the use of date rape drug GHB was the norm.
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The nightclub’s seedy empire - with K-Pop icon Seungri at the helm - came crashing down as a shocking WhatsApp group which included some of South Korea’s pop idols exposed a series of vile crimes.
The K-Pop heartthrobs - who had millions of adoring female fans - shared videos of women being drugged, raped and humiliated.
In one incident idol Jung, Choi Jong-hoon of K Pop band FT Island and other men gang-raped a woman and then joked in the group chat about “the sound of her skull cracking" as she fell.
Believing they were invincible they boasted about filming and abusing women who were so knocked out by drugs they could not say no.
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But two female journalists uncovered the men’s crimes and refused to give up their fight for justice - despite being trolled and vilified online.
Secret filming in toilets
It all started with Jung, one of the edgier K-pop stars, famed for his self-penned ballads which had won him critical acclaim.
But a scandal erupted when he was accused of what is known in Korea as ‘molka’ - secretly filming a woman.
Journalist Kang Kyung-toon explains in BBC Eye documentary Burning Sun: “Molka is a world that only exists in Korean. The correct term is illegally filmed footage.
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"A woman who is unaware is captured in a situation where she can feel humiliation. There are so many places where molka could happen. In public places like changing rooms or toilets.
"It can be taken between people in a relationship in order to destroy someone’s life. Once filmed, it can be distributed.”
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Another female journalist in Seoul, Park Hyo-sil, received a tip off in 2016 that Jung had tried to secretly film his girlfriend whilst having sex - but she caught him in the act and reported it as molka.
Her story caused a media frenzy and Jung was questioned by police. But instead of handing his phone over to detectives, Jung consulted his lawyer and gave it to a private forensics company.
Instead of examining the phone themselves, police just asked for a report from the private firm. Later a recording was leaked of Jung’s lawyer pressuring the company.
And after a lawyer for a TV show that Jung also starred in contacted his accuser, saying she could receive a harsh sentence for false accusation if there is insufficient evidence, she dropped the case.
The girlfriend issued a public statement saying Jung had done nothing wrong and apologised to him.
At a press conference aimed at clearing his name Jung said: “I never imagined that what was supposed to be a joke between the two of us would become public and develop into a big scandal. I was wrong to think that everything would go away if I was innocent.”
Rape joked in vile chat
Jung’s phone was never checked by the police and he thought he was in the clear. What he didn’t know was that a carbon copy had been made of his data.
Three years later, someone with access to the data decided to leak it and it reached journalist Kang.
It revealed Jung was in a chat group with male friends and other K-Pop stars - and some of the messages were utterly shocking - detailing gang rape and abuse.
Kang says: “My heart still hurts when I think of that group chat. I had no idea it would be that serious.”
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She saw videos of women being raped without their knowledge, that group members had shared in the chat - including the sickening gang rape by Jung and Choi Jong-hoon.
When one of the men wrote in the group chat that it “sounded like her skull was cracking,” Jung replied: “Literally the funniest night of my entire life."
Kang says: “Most of their fans are female but these chats had exposed the real face of these men who were projecting a gentle image. But those fans weren’t simple or plain.
My heart still hurts when I think of that group chat. I had no idea it would be that serious
Kang Kyung-toon
“[The men] were so disgusting, playing around with women as if they were toys, and incapacitating them to insult them. To loathe them. They were bragging and sniggering about that as if they were trophies.”
K-Pop Scandal Timeline
Feb 23 2018 - Burning Sun opens, advertising as ‘the most elegant and finest club in South Korea.’
Jan 26 2019- News outlets reported the alleged assault of a 29-year-old clubgoer, Kim Sang-kyo, at the club. He claimed he was trying to help a woman who was being sexually harassed.
Feb 26 2019 - Recordings from 2015 emerge which imply Seungri directed Burning Sun staff to arrange prostitutes for foreign investors at another Gangnam nightclub
March 10 2019 - Seungri was booked on sex bribery charges.
March 11 - Whistleblower leaks content of vile chat found on Jung Joon-young’s phone .
Nov 2019 - Jung Joon-young and Choi John-honn jailed for rapr for six and five years respectively.
August 2021 - Seungri jailed for gambling and arranging prostitution.
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'Face of Tinder'
As she went through the chat a horrified Kang also recognised another K Pop star in the videos and messages - megastar Seungri of the supergroup Big Bang.
Famed for his party lifestyle he styled himself as the “Great Gatsby” of Korea. He harboured ambitions of being the richest man in the country and started using women as a tool to impress wealthy potential investors.
In a twisted irony, he even did a lucrative deal to become the face of tinder in South Korea.
In the affluent Gangnam area of Seoul, Seungri was using his contacts to become a major player in the nightclub scene.
He opened the nightclub Burning Sun - the largest in Gangnam - and it was to become a den of iniquity.
Former employees told BBC Eye how their job was to make sure there were girls in the club to cater for VIP guests.
With superstar Seungri as CEO and DJ the club attracted lots of female guests - and men willing to pay highly for the best VIP tables with packages costing as much as £60,000 per night.
But there was a secret room in the bowels of the club which was far, far removed from the glitz and glamour of the main room.
Staff would take pictures of women who were drunk without their permission and send them to the VIPs. The VIPs could then cherry pick which of these girls they wanted.
One former staff member said that GHB was used to drug girls. He said: “There was a room deep in the club. Whatever was to happen in there you wouldn’t have heard anything.”
One young victim told the BBC: “When I went to Burning Sun we would get a table for ourselves, all girls. It was after I’d had one or two drinks perhaps?
“I went to the toilet with my friend and said "I feel weird today, I'm getting drunk really quickly. I think I shouldn't drink anymore." Then we came back to our seats.'
But the next she remembers she is in a hotel room with a man who had given her drinks in the club. “He suddenly ran at me and forced my clothes off,' she revealed. “I tried to scream but he covered my mouth.
“And I tried not to get attacked. So I keep trying to get up, right? And from above, he kept sitting on me and pressing me down.
“Because I was screaming, he covered my mouth with both hands. He kept shoving me down as if he was giving me CPR.
“I couldn't breathe. My mouth hurt so much - but because he was sitting on me my ribs were hurting too.
“However much I struggled, it didn't work. So I gave up.”
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The victim admitted that she thought the man was “going to kill her”.
“I was in so much pain,” she continued. “But he wouldn't stop and he kept trying to do the deed. So I just gave up and just lay there.
“I felt so sick. I grabbed the rubbish bin and vomited. I vomited and I knelt down on the floor and begged. I begged him to send me home.
“I said I missed my mum so much. I cried and begged.”
The attacker told her he'd “let her go if she took a photo”.
The victim said: “He told me to smile but I couldn't. I wanted to cover my face. Because he didn't let me, I just made a peace sign then I rushed out. But my memory of that is hazy.”
While she reported the rape to the police, the man claimed they had consensual sex, and used the photo as “evidence”. He was allowed to leave Korea.
Seungri’s empire started to crumble in 2019 when a clubber claimed he had been beaten up by staff - and police had stood by. CCTV also emerged of a woman being dragged from the club by staff.
Then a shocking case of molka filmed at the Burning Sun - known as “the red bathroom video” went viral on porn sites.
The footage showed women being attacked in a secret washroom under the club, available only to the most privileged members.
One anonymous reveals one of his VVIPs became panicked because a video he and another man filmed, showing a "naked" woman with a "completely blank expression", was "becoming a problem" after going viral.
Under pressure from the police and the media, Seungri and his team close the club down.
It was then that Kang and her editors decided to publish her investigation revealing the K-Pop stars’ vile chat group messages. Seungri handed himself in voluntarily for questioning, while Jung and Choi were next to be questioned.
The huge publicity surrounding the case encouraged victims to come forward and report their assaults to police.
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Jung Joon Yung was sentenced to six years in prison for raping a woman and distributing a video showing the act. His sentence was later reduced to five years and he was released in March this year.
Choi Yong-Hoon was jailed for five years for rape, but his sentence was reduced to two and a half years. He was released in 2021.
Seungri, real name Lee-Seung-Hyung, was indicted on charges of organising prostitution, habitual gambling and violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
He was given a three year sentence, later reduced to 18 months, and was released in February last year.
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The Korean National Police Agency has now created a special unit to investigate sex crimes against women in Gangnam.
The BBC Eye documentary, Burning Sun: Exposing the Secret K-pop Chat Groups, is available on iPlayer
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