Opinion | Jailing of K-pop stars Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon offers ray of hope in dark year for the industry
- The jailing on rape charges of the two South Korean stars is a welcome first step towards ending the misogyny and victim blaming rampant in K-pop
- The convictions should also offer hope to South Korean women who have been victims of secretly recorded sex videos, revenge porn and ‘molka’
The jailing of South Korean stars Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon on rape charges offers a ray of hope in what has been a dark year for K-pop.
While K-pop followers will look back on 2018 as a triumphant year for South Korea’s biggest cultural export, with many outfits achieving unprecedented international success and boy band BTS becoming the first K-pop act to top the US album charts, 2019 will mostly be remembered for a series of tragedies and scandals that shook the industry.
The apparent suicides of singers Sulli (October 14) and Goo Hara (November 24) came towards the end of a year that had already seen the downfall of BigBang member Seungri over prostitution allegations and a sex and drugs scandal at a nightclub he was a director of, and the exposure of a revolting chat room where stars including Jung and Choi shared videos of themselves raping women who were drunk or unconscious.
The actions of these men have shown that beneath the cheery facade of K-pop – with its plastered-on smiles, short skirts and feigned innocence – lurk some very dark forces.
