The K-pop world used to be filled with noise and sounds from groups' performances and fans' scream until the Burning Sun Scandal breaks out, and now cries are heard. Sex scandals and other controversies now blot the once innocent and adorable image of Korea's music industry, and it is only a small fraction of how prevalent the issue about illicit filming and spycam is in the country.
The controversy is continuously growing, and it is even tarnishing the K-pop world with the allegations of bribery, police corruption, prostitution, and drug-dealing. It also puts a spotlight on the illegal filming or distributing sex videos without consent that is thriving on the black market.
Everything started when a group of men created a chat room where they shared their sexual activities, photographing and filming their partners without consent. Things began to escalate when the guys involved were part of the K-pop world and even famous in their fields.
The scandal shocked the whole of South Korea and even other parts of the world. The investigation started, and it even engaged the biggest names in the industry like Jung Joong-Young, who got arrested for suspicion of filming at least 11 women without consent and distributing their clips. Big Bang's Seungri is also involved and is facing a series of charges, including illegally recording women.
According to The South China Morning Post, the K-pop stars' activities is a common sight in South Korea and also a problem around the world. But, production and distribution of pornographic materials in this country are still against the law, and President Moon Jae-in created stricter decrees for such cases as a part of his platform in the 2017 election campaign.
It is not the only scandal that shocked the K-pop world. Recently, The Washington Post reported female high school students from the School of Performing Arts in Seoul, where K-pop stars were born, were allegedly forced to perform in private events and parties. They were instructed to be "sexy and touchy" in front of the male audience.
There were also protests on the widespread use of spycam in the country. The police estimate there were 6,000 spycam cases each year from 2013 to 2017.
"Most of the victims were very young women in their early twenties," SBS reporter Kang Kyung-Yoon revealed about Seungri and Jung's group chat. "They didn't even know they had been filmed, that the videos were being circulated in group chats."
The Korea Cyber Sexual Violence Response Centre activist Lee Hyo-rin, on the other hand, said the K-pop stars involvement in the controversy is "not surprising at all." It only proves how widespread is the problem. Unfortunately, it is only getting big attention now because the people involved are all famous.
