Ex K-pop star leaves jail after five-year rape, spycam term
Former K-pop star Jung Joonyoung left prison Tuesday after FRPSOHWLQJ D ÀYH \HDU WHUP IRU JDQJ UDSH DQG LOOLFLW ÀOPLQJ LQ RQH RI 6RXWK .RUHD·V KLJK SURÀOH VS\FDP scandals. Jung was found guilty of UDSH RQ WZR RFFDVLRQV LQ DQG RI ÀOPLQJ KLPVHOI KDYLQJ LQWHUFRXUVH with other women without their knowledge and sharing the footage without their consent. Known as “molka” in Korean, spycam videos are typically made by men who seFUHWO\ ÀOP ZRPHQ LQ VFKRROV WRLOHWV and elsewhere, although the term can also be applied to clandestinely-shot footage of consensual sex.
-XQJ·V FDVH ZDV RQH RI D VHULHV RI KLJK SURÀOH VH[ VFDQGDOV LQYROYing male celebrities which emerged at the height of a local #MeToo movement, when thousands of women protested in the capital Seoul in 2018, chanting: “My life is not your porn”. Another K-pop star and a former member of popular boyband BIGBANG, Seungri, was IRXQG WR KDYH UHFHLYHG -XQJ·V YLGeos and was later separately found guilty of multiple charges linked to a sex and drugs scandal at his “Burning Sun” nightclub.
Wearing a black hat and mask, WKH \HDU ROG -XQJ ZDONHG RXW RI WKH SULVRQ LQ 0RNSR VRPH NLORPHWHUV PLOHV VRXWK RI 6HRXO without talking to waiting press early Tuesday, the News1 agency reported. Jung rose to fame in 2012 when he came third in the audition show “Super Star K” and had a number of solo hits before the spycam scandal emerged in early 2019, when he announced his retirement from entertainment business.
At the time the rape accusations had yet to emerge, but he said he had “committed crimes that cannot be forgiven”. Goo Hara, a former member of girl group Kara, died by suicide in 2019 after she was blackmailed over “revenge porn” by an ex-boyfriend.
South Korean international footballer Hwang Ui-jo is currently under investigation over allegations WKDW KH ÀOPHG VH[XDO HQFRXQWHUV without consent. Hwang, who is currently on loan from Nottingham Forest at Turkish club Alanyaspor, denies the charges. — AFP