Innocent or Guilty? Take a Look at Seungri’s Case

Seungri, a Former South Korean Singer

Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung Hyun, is a former South Korean singer. He started his career by debuting as a vocalist with the South Korean boy group Big Bang, under YG Entertainment in 2006. Big Bang is one of the most influential and famous boy bands in South Korea and also internationally. Besides being a singer, Seungri is also a songwriter, actor, DJ, and creative director. He made his theatrical debut with the musical “Sonagi ” in 2008.  He also starred in a couple of films that were released in 2009, such as Nineteen and Why Did You Come to My House? 

Seungri is a businessman and investor. He opened a dance school, managed a franchise of nightclub and restaurant, and established a record label, as well as investing in other companies. Because of some of his business concerns, he went through some scandals in South Korea. He resigned from all his management positions before his military enlistment, as required by Korean law in 2019. In this article, Channel-Korea will explain about Seungri’s cases that caused him to retire from this entertainment industry. Stay tuned.

The Conclusion of Seungri’s Case

자신이 운영에 참여했던 클럽 버닝썬에서 ‘성접대’를 한 의혹을 받고 있는 가수 승리(본명 이승현)가 27일 오후 서울 종로구 서울지방경찰청으로 출석하고 있다. 2019.2.27/뉴스1

Seungri’s case became well known to the public in early 2019 with the Burning Sun controversy. Seungri was linked to Burning Sun because he was a consultant for he club. The controversy arose when the club’s CCTV footage revealed a woman being dragged through a hallway of the club and being sexual harassed. The woman was helped by Mr. Kim, but Mr. Kim was dragged up out of the club and ended up getting beaten up by the security guards. The incident took place after Seungri had left the club.

Burning Sun Scandal

Because of this incident, Seungri posted a statement in response to the incident. He wrote a long letter on Instagram said that he sincerely apologized to everyone who felt uncomfortable or was worried due to the recent incident and controversy related to him. Because of this incident, he said that the last few days had been like an unbearable nightmare. He was not at the scene when the assault that started this controversy occurred. He first learned about the incident a few days later through a staff member, and only initially heard that there was assault on both sides between a customer and an employee, and that it was under police investigation. He hoped that this would also be resolved peacefully without a big problem.

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안녕하세요. 승리입니다. 먼저 저와 관계된 최근 사건과 논란으로 불쾌하셨거나 걱정을 끼쳐드린 모든 분들께 진심으로 고개 숙여 사과드립니다. 이번 사건으로 인해 지난 며칠간 견디기 힘든 악몽 같은 시간을 보내며 무슨 말씀을 어디부터 어떻게 드려야 할지 많이 혼란스러웠습니다. 사실 관계가 불분명한 내용들이 눈덩이처럼 커지는 상황에서, 섣부른 해명이 오히려 더 큰 오해를 만들 수 있다는 주변의 만류와 많은 고민들로 공식해명과 사과가 늦어진 점 정말 죄송스럽게 생각합니다. 이번 논란의 시작이 된 폭행 사건 당시 저는 현장에 있지 않았고, 며칠 뒤 스텝을 통해 손님과 직원 간에 쌍방폭행사건이 있었으며 경찰서에서 조사중이라는 정도로 이번 사건을 처음 알게 되었습니다. 사업장의 성격상 다툼 및 시비가 적지 않게 일어나기에 이번에도 큰 문제 없이 원만히 해결되기를 바라는 마음이었습니다. 후에 언론을 통해 당시 상황이 담긴 영상을 처음 보게 되었고, 저 역시 큰 충격을 받았습니다. 어떠한 경우에도 폭력은 정당화될 수 없고, 이번 일로 상처를 받으신 피해자 분께는 이 글을 빌어 진심으로 사죄의 말씀드리며. 하루빨리 심신의 상처가 아물길 바라겠습니다. 제가 처음 클럽에 관여하게 된 계기는, 빅뱅의 활동이 잠시 중단되고 솔로 활동을 시작하게 되면서, 솔로 활동 외의 시간을 이용해 언제든 마음놓고 음악을 틀 수 있는 장소에서, 제가 해보고 싶었던 DJ 활동을 병행하고 싶다는 단순한 마음에서였습니다. 때마침 좋은 계기가 있어 홍보를 담당하는 클럽의 사내이사를 맡게 되었고, 연예인이기 때문에 대외적으로 클럽을 알리는 역할을 담당했습니다 실질적인 클럽의 경영과 운영은 제 역할이 아니었고, 처음부터 관여하지 않았기 때문에 이번 사건도 처음부터 책임있는 모습을 보여드리지 못하였던 점 깊이 반성하고 머리 숙여 사죄드립니다. 폭행사건으로 촉발된 이슈가 요즘은 마약이나 약물 관련 언론 보도들로 이어지고 있습니다. 이 부분에 있어서는 제가 이를 직접 보거나, 들어본 적도 없었던 터라 수사에 적극 협조하여 철저한 조사를 통해 진상규명과 함께 죄가 있다면 엄중한 처벌이 있었으면 하는 마음입니다. 당시 사내이사를 맡고 있었던 저도 책임질 일이 있다면 모든 책임을 지겠습니다. 이번 일을 겪으면서 유명인의 책임과 태도에 대해 다시 한번 크게 뉘우치고 깨닫게 되었습니다. 이번 일로 인해 걱정 끼쳐드린 모든 분들께 다시 한번 진심으로 사과 드리며, 더 성숙하고 사려깊은 모습 보여드릴 수 있도록 노력하겠습니다. 승리 이승현 배상

A post shared by @ seungriseyo on

Here’s a translation of his post.

“….I first became involved with the club when BIG BANG briefly halted promotions and I began solo promotions. Using the time outside of my solo promotions, I began with the innocent mindset of wanting to try working as a DJ, which is something I had wanted to do, at a place where I could freely play music at any time.

Just in time, I got a good opportunity to become an executive director in charge of promotions at a club. Since I’m a celebrity, I was in charge of publicly promoting the club.

Operating and managing the club were not my roles, and I am reflecting and deeply apologize for not showing myself taking responsibility from the beginning of the incident, as I was not involved in these roles from the start.

The issue that began with an assault case is now being covered with reports about drugs. I have not seen or heard anything related to this, so I’ll actively cooperate with investigations and hope that strict punishment will be carried out if a crime is revealed through the investigation. I’ll also take full responsibility if there is something I need to be responsible for as an executive director at the time.

While going through this incident, I learned and realized a lot once more about the responsibility and attitude of a celebrity. I apologize once again to everyone for causing concern through this incident, and will work hard to become more mature and considerate.

Respectfully,

Seungri, Lee Seung Hyun“

Violating Anti-Prostitution Law

Not long after the Burning Sun scandal, Seungri was involved in another case. SBS funE released text messages between Seungri, the CEO Yoo of Yuri Holdings (an investment company Seungri was preparing to establish), and an employee. It was revealed that the context of the text messages were talking about hiring prostitutes for foreign business investors. The news was clarified by Yuri Holdings through an official statement, “The text messages that have become an issue are all completely false, and we believe someone with malicious intent towards Seungri and our company has fabricated these text messages as a grudge and sent them to reporters. This is fake news that has been published without being confirmed.” After a police investigation of that incident, on March 10, 2019, Seungri was booked on charges of violating the law on the punishment of prostitution mediation and other related actions.

Illegal Hidden Camera Footage & Alleged Connection Between The Police

The SBS funE reporter has released more text messages including Seungri and two other male singers. The report stated that there were up to 10 incidents where photos and pictures taken illegally were exchanged in the chat room.

Based on the chatroom, lawyer Bang Jung Hyun said that there was suspicion of corruption by the police. he said at an interview with SBS, “It was data containing connections with several governmental authorities, and I was especially suspicious about the connection with the police. I was doubtful about how justly the investigation would have been handled if I had handed it over to the police.”

Habitual Gambling

The media outlet Sisa Journal revealed messages providing signs that Seungri was involved in pathological gambling abroad. It has been confirmed that according to the police, Seungri confessed to some of the allegations of gambling during interrogation.

As of now, Seungri has been charged for seven cases since 2019. These charges include the gambling, prostitution services, illegal foreign currency trade, etc.

Is He Actually Innocent?

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Out of all his statements and evidence gathered by the prosecutor, do you think he’s the guilty one or the innocent one? Check out some netizen reactions to Seungri’s case.

Account @umudovaj on Twitter make a thread about the answers to Koreans who still think Seungri was Burning Sun’s owner and Kim Sang Kyo is a hero. Check out the tweets.

On a pann discussion with the same topic about Kim Sang Kyo and Seungri’s cases, someone commented, [+28, -2] “This needs to be properly exposed. Last time too, kids like Seungri all fell in the hate trap and fell from their high ranks. Fyi, Kim Sang Kyo is the whistle blower who exposed the police corruption with Seungri during the scandal of Burning Sun.”

 

Account @poutyvip5lines on twitter talked about why they’re still supporting Seungri. They also said in a tweet, “I don’t know how people fail to notice that I support seungri…If you follow me you need to know that I support seungri and I am OT5, if you don’t like it unfollow me, in case you want to know why I and others support him this is a thread that explains everything.”

The account made a thread about Seungri’s case. Check it out!

https://twitter.com/pandacondae/status/1261281831971729408?s=20