Police seek arrest warrant in K-pop sex video scandal
SEOUL: South Korean police Monday sought an arrest warrant for a K-pop star accused of filming and distributing illicit sex videos in a burgeoning scandal that has rocked the country’s music industry.
Singer-songwriter Jung Joonyoung last week admitted to filming himself having sex and sharing the footage without his partners’ consent.
The videos of at least 10 women were shared through mobile chatrooms in 2015 with recipients including fellow K-pop star Seungri of Big Bang.
After opening an investigation, Seoul police said Monday an arrest warrant has been requested for Jung on charges of sexual offences using cameras, according to Yonhap news agency.
Police are also seeking an arrest warrant for another male — a nightclub employee who was part of the chatroom with Jung — for sharing sex videos.
The 30-year-old musician Jung announced his retirement from the entertainment industry last week and the scandal has seen two other male singers quitting after admitting they watched the illicit videos. South Korea has been battling a growing epidemic of so-called “molka”, or spycam videos — mostly of women, secretly filmed by men in schools, toilets and offices.
“Revenge porn” — videos taken of sexual relations without the partner’s consent — is believed to be equally widespread.
Thousands of women protested in Seoul last year on several occasions against the videos as part of the country’s growing #MeToo movement.