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| Korea Times file |
By Lee Suh-yoon
Prosecutors searched the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) headquarters, Friday, looking for evidence to verify allegations of cozy ties between the police and Burning Sun nightclub.
Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office said they confiscated computer hard drives and files from the office of a senior superintendent, identified only by his surname Yoon.
Yoon is suspected of tipping off nightclub operators ― including disgraced former K-pop star Seungri ― about police activities or just watching their backs allowing drug use, rape and prostitution to continue at the club.
Since January, the Burning Sun scandal has grown into a full-fledged expose of drugs, sexual assault, voyeur video crimes and corruption rampant in the nightlife industry.
Despite the evidence, a three-month police investigation concluded in May that there were no suspicious ties between officers and nightlife businesses linked to illegal sex and drug trade. No charges were brought against Yoon, Seungri or the other players in the scandal.
Condemning the situation, women's rights groups claimed that collusion between the police force and the nightlife industry was why "rape business cartels" persisted.
Yoon was mentioned in a mobile group chat between male K-pop stars and a businessman as someone who "watched their backs." Although it was found that Seungri and his business partner Yoo In-suk treated Yoon to lavish meals and golf trips, police did not charge Yoon under the anti-graft law, saying the situation did not warrant a criminal investigation.
Yoon also allegedly leaked information when a competitor filed a police report against Seungri and Yoo's Monkey Museum bar for wrongful business registration and tax evasion, personally obtaining details of the case through an employee at Gangnam Police Station.
Other police officers ― including Yoon's wife ― have been booked in the past for receiving suspicious favors from people related to Burning Sun. Kim, Yoon's wife, received free K-pop concert tickets from F.T. Island's Choi Jong-hoon. A superintendent surnamed Suk was booked for buying an import car at far below market price from a broker connected to Burning Sun.
Last week, prosecutors detained the owner of ink manufacturing company Nokwon C&I, surnamed Jeong, on embezzlement charges. Jeong first introduced Yoon to Yoo In-suk, and is suspected of being the liaison between the two.
Some said the sudden search ― conducted months after the allegations resurfaced ― was politically motivated, because the prosecution is looking into possible ties between Yoon and a private equity fund in which Justice Minister Cho Kuk's family invested.
Yoon was deployed to the office of the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs while Cho was in office between July 2017 and January the following year.
The Burning Sun scandal has engulfed multiple K-pop celebrities. BIGBANG's Seungri, the local "Great Gatsby" who ran Burning Sun and other enterprises, was the first to come under scrutiny, especially after media reports revealed club employees drugged female customers and "served them up" to VIP customers, sometimes even filming them.
Male celebrities close to Seungri, such as singer Jung Joon-young and F.T. Island's Choi Jong-hoon, were dragged into the scandal after excerpts of their group chat conversation were leaked in connection to the Burning Sun investigation. Both are on trial for drugging and gang raping a woman in 2016, which they filmed and posted in the group chat.
