K-pop scandal: F.T. Island’s Choi quits, cops suspected of collusion
SEOUL: Another K-pop star quit Thursday, hours after Yong Junhyung left boy band Highlight - formerly known as Beast - in the sex/drug scandal that ripples further across South Korea’s music industry.
K-pop band F.T. Island’s Choi Jong-hoon, 29, announced his retirement saying that he would be questioned by police later this week over “suspicions” he was involved in the scandal.
Choi got ensnared in the widening scandal on Wednesday after records of a Kakao Talk group chatroom for celebs, including Seungri and Yong, were disclosed, including messages written in June 2016 hinting that Choi had covered up his drunk driving thanks to cosy ties with a “ranking” police officer.
FNC Entertainment has admitted the singer was caught for drunk driving in February 2016, but denied allegations about cosy ties with police. But this explanation has fallen short of quelling the anger of disappointed fans.
There are signs that Choi’s estranged fans are moving to expel him from the K-pop scene.
“We urge Choi to quit (the job) to take responsibility for the scandal,” reads a statement posted on the F.T. Island category of DC Inside, a popular online community. “What we want is his permanent removal, not his career suspension.”
The statement criticizes the singer for overlooking his celebrity friends exchanging texts sexually objectifying women.
“As the leader of the band, he has tarnished the band image severely and thrown the band’s future into uncertainty,” the statement said. “Given things that have been revealed so far, it’s time for him to quit the job.”
Choi’s agency has remained silent. Meanwhile, police are increasingly suspected of rampant collusion in an explosive sleaze scandal involving some of the biggest lights in K-pop.
Messages from an exclusive online group chat used by Seungri of boy band Big Bang and singer Jung Joon-young as well as staff at a couple of high- end nightclubs in Gangnam indicate that a high-ranking police officer was watching their backs.
The chat messages came to light when Jung took his mobile phone for repairs and the technician leaked them to lawyer Bang Jung-hyun and a reporter at SBS. Bang in turn sent the messages to the AntiCorruption and Civil Rights Commission and said in a radio interview, “There are areas that raise suspicions of collusive ties between the participants of the chat rooms and police.”