Burning Sun: Exposing the secret K-pop chat groups - BBC World Service Documentaries

Warning: This film includes descriptions some viewers may find distressing.

A #BBCEye investigation into three K-pop stars who were sharing evidence of sexual crimes in secret chat groups.

UPDATE: The BBC has removed a short section of this film on 21/05/24 as it contained a factual inaccuracy: It wrongly attributed legal advice given to victim ‘Kyung-mi’ as from a lawyer from broadcaster KBS, when in reality it was advice from a different lawyer.

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In South Korea, K-pop stars have fame, fortune and millions of female fans. But some led a double life, inhabiting a hidden world where videos of women being drugged, assaulted and humiliated were shared. This #BBCEye documentary tells the story of the female journalists who took on the task of investigating the secret chat groups of prominent K-pop stars - and paid a high personal price.

‘Molka’ is the Korean term for secretly taking explicit photos or videos without consent. It’s a crime that’s increased elevenfold in the last fifteen years in South Korea. Three friends, all successful K-pop stars, were sharing images in which unconscious women were sexually assaulted. Some of the messages contained evidence that two of the stars, Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon had subjected a woman to extreme sexual violence.

Their crimes would never have been discovered had the phone data of Jung Joon-young not been leaked. The information eventually ended up in the hands of Korean journalist Kang Kyung-yoon, who began a painstaking process of verifying hundreds of explicit photos and videos. The scandal also involved a top Gangnam club, Burning Sun, where another of the friends, Big Bang star Seungri, was a DJ and CEO. Women were being drugged inside the nightclub, and sexually assaulted by men attending the club. Kang and fellow-journalist Park tell the story of their investigation and how they became the targets for exposing the stars.

00:00 Intro
02:48 What is 'molka'?
03:40 Jung Joon-young accused of molka
08:13 The data leak
10:09 Meet Choi Jong-hoon and Seungri
11:11 Global investment in the business plan
12:49 A pattern of exploitation
17:58 Gangnam nightlife and the business of assault
20:44 The cost of reporting
22:43 The VIP client experience
32:32 The 'dark fortress' - a secretive space
33:49 The red bathroom
37:37 The lawyer meets the journalists
39:54 Hara assists the investigation
42:33 The senior police contact
45:38 Accountability and arrests
47:27 More victims come forward
49:12 Women protest for further protection
50:52 Hara's personal crisis
53:58 The sentencing
55:48 The future of Sex and Power

🎥 Watch this documentary in KOREAN here: https://bbc.in/3WQVFDg , in MANDARIN here: https://bbc.in/4ayps78 and in THAI here:    • Burning Sun: เปิดโปงแชทฉาววงการเค-ป็อ...  

🎧 Listen to the podcast series "Intrigue: Burning sun" here: https://bbc.in/4dUejQL

To watch more investigative journalism from our award-winning BBC Eye team check out this documentary playlist:    • All BBC World Service Documentaries  

Credits:
Head of Longform - Liz Gibbons
Editor BBC Investigations - Marc Perkins
Executive Producers - Monica Garnsey, Mustafa Khalili, Kavita Puri
Produced and Directed by - Kai Lawrence
Director Of Photography - Kai Lawrence
Film Editors - Kai Lawrence, Jeong-One Park, Renee Edwards BFE
Narrator - Kate Fleetwood
Assistant Editors: Douglas Bunnage-Flavell, Ali Turab Qazi
Additional Research - Loonie Park, Shuyue Ren
Original Music - Jason Luxton
Lighting Cameraman - Nils Clauss
Graphic Designer - Douglas McGinness
Colourist - Michael Sanders
Online Editor - Dominic McMahon
Dubbing Mixer - Ross Millership
Executive Producers, Impact - Charlotte Hayward, Vara Szajkowski
Impact Producers - Baya Cat, Rajni Boddington, Alison Gee, Anusha Kumar, Bethany Rose, Emaan Warraich, Kulwant Sohal
Assistant Producers - Lee-hyun Choi, Jinny Yeon, Bugyeong Jung, Sinae Hong, Kwon Moon, Keith Park, Max Kim
Associate Producer - Chloe Hadjimatheou
Production Executive - Nayantara Gauba
Production Managers - Suzanne Luu, Jessica Butler, Dawn Macdonald, Kate Moore
Production Management Assistant - Catia Da Costa
Production Coordinators - Liza Hodgson, Siobhan Reed, Sameer Hussain, Shima Mashhoor
Archive Sources - MBC, KBS, Yonhap News, YG Entertainment, Mnet, YTN, Voice For The People, Kukmin, Ilbo, Korean’s Women Hotline, News1, JTBC, Marie Claire Korea, Dispatch
Voice Actors - Jeni Seo, Jun Noh, Taeho Kim
Special thanks to - Kevin Kim, Pyo Kisik, Lee Seung-Woo

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