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. Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 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: and in MANDARIN here: 🎧 Listen to the podcast series “Intrigue: Burning sun“ here: To watch more investigative journalism from our award-winning BBC Eye team check out this documentary playlist: 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 ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽 Twitter 👉🏽 Facebook 👉🏽 BBC World Service website 👉🏽 Thanks for watching and subscribing! #BBCWorldService #WorldService #BBCEye #SouthKorea #Kpop #kpopedit