K-Pop Stars Jung Joon-Young And Choi Jong-Hoon Have Been Jailed For Gang Rape

Two prominent K-Pop stars, Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon have been jailed for gang rape today, with Joon-young additionally prosecuted for recording and distributing videos of the assaults and other sexual encounters.

The high profile case of the two now retired musicians is part of a larger sex scandal in South Korea that involves several celebrities in the entertainment industry. In fact, this case was only discovered when police accessed the men’s group chat during a separate investigation into fellow K-Pop star Seungri – who has been charged supplying sex workers to business associates.

Only in reading the group chat did police discover videos of the assaults and the K-Pop stars joking about gang-raping women. Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon were found guilty of gang-raping two different women in two incidents in 2016 and were sentenced to six and five years respectively.

‘Jung and Choi took part in gang-rape of victims who were intoxicated and unable to resist,’ the verdict read, according to Yonhap news agency. ‘It is hard to fathom the extent of suffering the victims must have gone through. They should assume social responsibility in proportion to their fame and wealth.’

The court added that the singers saw the victims as ‘sexual objects’ to be exploited.

‘I deeply regret my foolishness and I feel great remorse,’ Joon-young said in his final testimony. ‘From now on, I shall only... live in remorse.’ Jong-hoon was noted by the court as not feeling ‘remorse after mass-raping drunken victims’.

Sex crimes are reportedly an epidemic in South Korea, specifically the online distribution of unconsented sex videos taken of women – known as ‘molka’. Earlier this year, lawyer Cha Mee-kyung told the BBC that sex crimes in South Korea are ‘hidden…not reflected in justice system statistics’.

Just last weekend, fellow K-Pop star Goo Hara, part of girl group Kara, died in apparent suicide a year after she was blackmailed with revenge porn by her ex-boyfriend. He reportedly threatened to leak the footage in an attempt to ‘end her entertainment career’, with video footage of her begging him not to leaked online.

Victims of revenge porn, or molka, are often the subject of severe social isolation and ostracism in South Korea. Last year, police data revealed that 5,500 people were arrested because of molka offences, 97% of them men.

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