SBS To Dig In The Case Of Late Goo Hara’s Lost Safe And Its Alleged Connection To Burning Sun

On June 22nd, “Unanswered Questions” will investigate the mystery surrounding the theft of the safe from the late Goo Hara’s residence and attempt to identify the culprit captured on CCTV

The Tragic Death of a Whistleblower

A month ago, a BBC documentary on the “Burning Sun Gate” created a significant impact by exposing the sordid truths revealed in private chat rooms involving K-pop stars. This documentary brought renewed attention to the late Goo Hara, who played a crucial role in uncovering connections between the suspects and high-ranking police officers.

Girl group KARA’s member Goo Hara was immensely popular both domestically and internationally. Tragically, she passed away at the age of 28 on November 24th, 2019. She had been active in Japan as a solo artist and briefly returned to Korea, where she was found deceased at her residence in Cheongdam-dong. About 2 months after her funeral, a shocking incident occurred.

The Disappearance of the Safe and the Mysterious Man

“How could anyone do such a thing? It’s unacceptable to steal from the deceased’s home.”

On January 11th, 2020, Goo Hara’s family held a 49-day memorial ceremony, a traditional Korean ritual. Two days later, on January 13th, Goo Hara’s brother Goo Hoin cleared out some of her belongings from her Cheongdam-dong house. It was then that he discovered her personal safe, which had been in a wardrobe on the second floor, was missing. Other valuables in the house remained untouched, but the safe, which usually stored old cell phones, had vanished.

The CCTV footage showed a strange man breaking into the front yard of her brother’s house just after midnight on Jan. 14, which was just hours after the bereaved family left the house. The culprit disappeared from the CCTV footage after appearing at the front yard and boldly walking toward the front door.

What was the man in the CCTV aiming for

“There is a possibility that the criminal already knew Goo as he tried to press the password. It doesn’t make sense for a thief to press the password, right?”

The culprit in the CCTV footage is said to have approached the front door and tried to open the door lock. He was wearing a hat and mask and the CCTV footage was blurry, so police was unable to catch the culprit in the end. Since only two short CCTV footages have been secured, it is not clear exactly how the theft broke in.

Did the criminal commit the crime at the request of someone to prevent the contents stored in Goo’s mobile phone in the safe from being known? Is the criminal related to the Burning Sun case? In ‘Unanswered Questions’, the lost safe case is analyzed through 3D simulation and re-experiment, and the colorization of infrared CCTV and the montage is restored with advanced AI technology to track the criminal.

This episode of “Unanswered Questions” will be aired on June 22nd at 11:10 PM (KST).