A Nightclub Scandal Torments South Korea
K-Pop stars and the country's president are implicated
By Abraham Wang
At a time when American drug deaths have risen to unprecedented levels, South Korea stands in stark contrast.
Often called a “drug free” country, South Korea ranks almost last in the world when it comes to overdose deaths. (Only the Solomon Islands and Egypt have fewer per capita.)
And yet for years South Korea has been enmeshed in a major drugs controversy, called the Burning Sun (버닝썬) scandal, involving K-Pop stars and, now, the country’s president.
Drugs are truly scandalous in South Korea, in a way that’s hard to fathom here. Your average teenager not only hasn’t tried marijuana, she probably doesn’t know anyone who has.
Mostly, drugs float on the periphery, and recent decades have seen a relative influx of synthetic drugs like MDMA and yaba, a stimulant that includes meth. (Much comes from North Korea, dating back to when Kim Il-sung — the current president’s grandfather — reportedly ordered large-scale poppy cultivation, even mobilizing medical students.)
In 2019, the Burning Sun scandal erupted in South Korea, centered around the eponymous nightclub in Seoul’s ritzy Gangnam District. Once considered the hottest club in the country, Burning Sun was exposed as a place where women — including minors — were drugged with GHB, rendered unconscious, and raped by VIP customers.
How could this happen, especially in such a wealthy, high profile area? According to reports, high-ranking police officers covered up the crimes, concealed evidence, and suppressed whistleblower reports.
Numerous K-Pop stars were implicated in the scandal, including Seungri, formerly of Big Bang, and the owner of Burning Sun. He was convicted of “providing prostitutes to foreign businessmen” and other crimes, and served 18 months in prison.
Yet like Seungri, many of these bad actors received light sentences, and six years later, the story remains a national embarrassment, with many lingering questions and unresolved issues.
The scandal’s initial whistleblower Kim Sang-kyo — who physically fought with Burning Sun staff to save a drugged woman who was being dragged away — was convicted of sexual harassment, apparently in retaliation.
Meanwhile Goo Hara, a widely-popular singer from the girl group Kara, committed suicide in November, 2019. Working to expose the Burning Sun scandal, she had publicly accused high-level police officials of covering up crimes. Meanwhile, her ex-boyfriend, Choi Jong-Bum, whom she alleged assaulted her and threatened to release a sex tape, was given only a suspended sentence.
And then, one month after Goo Hara’s death, someone broke into her home and stole a phone and documents from her safe.