First Informant Kim Sang-kyo, “Burning Sun Incident Was Not Just About Celebrity Group Chat, Needs Reinvestigation”

Kim Sang-kyo appeared on MBC’s current affairs program “PD Note”, which aired on July 2nd, and mentioned the Burning Sun incident again.

The incident occurred back on November 24th, 2018. Kim Sang-kyo visited Burning Sun Club, known to have been owned by former BIGBANG member Seungri, to attend a birthday party of an acquaintance.

At the club, he was assaulted by some employees and suffered injuries, such as broken ribs. Witnessing people taking drugs in Burning Sun, Kim Sang-kyo reported it to the police, but the police arrested him instead. The scene of Kim Sang-kyo being assaulted by the police was actually captured on CCTV.

The incident went in a strange direction when Burning Sun official sued Kim Sang-kyo for forced harassment and assault. In addition, the police also filed a lawsuit against Kim Sang-kyo, causing him to face more than 15 charges, including obstruction of business, assault, obstruction of duty against the police, defamation, etc.

In an interview with the newspaper on July 3rd, Kim Sang-kyo shared, “My life completely collapsed after more than two years of investigation and nearly five years of trial. I had to quit the normal job I was doing”, adding “I had to endure investigation all day for more than 12 hours, and they tried to create all kinds of charges against me. I felt like they were planning to kill me”.

In the end, Kim Sang-kyo successfully cleared most of the charges, but he fought a fierce legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court over the forced harassment charge, which was eventually confirmed in May this year. Kim Sang-kyo was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation. 

Kim Sang-kyo said, “The person who sued me for forced harassment was an official at an entertainment establishment related to Buring Sun Club”, adding “I had a suspicion that they initiated the forced harassment accusation to wrap up the assault case. Isn’t it obvious that it would be hard for a man to live in Korea if he is labeled with a sex crime, such as forced harassment?”

Not only Kim Sang-kyo but his family members also claimed to have received threats from unknown people. Kim Sang-kyo said, “People wearing black suits came to my mom’s workplace for a month and forced her to agree with the charges. Because of that, my mom had to quit the job she had been doing for 20 years”.

In addition, Kim Sang-kyo emphasized that the essence of the Burning Sun incident had been distorted in public opinion. He said, “The Burning Sun incident is not just a scandal revolved around a group chat of celebrities. The group chat incident involving Seungri and Jung Joon-young happened in 2016. It is true that those celebrities should be punished but since Buring Sun investigations have been closed after then, it is very unfair for victims like me and those who reached out to programs like ‘PD Note’”.

He continued, “Since the media and the public were only interested in the celebrity group chat case, not the Burning Sun, investigations into Burning Sun ended in vain and victims like me had to go to trial and had a hard time enduring legal battles by ourselves”, adding “That’s too cruel for all the victims”.

Kim Sang-kyo shared, “When I first reported the Burning Sun issue, I said, ‘I witnessed someone taking drugs’, but the police did not listen to me and deleted my testimony from the record”, adding “The essence of the matter is that the person who reported the incident was assaulted by the authorities and had to struggle with trials for many years.”

No Jong-eon, a lawyer from the law firm representing the late singer Goo Ha-ra, said, “It is very unfair that the Burning Sun incident was concluded as merely celebrities’ personal misconducts, with no corruption found between Burning Sun and the police”, adding “Equality before the law should apply even to those with power, and it should not be violated. There is an urgent need for a reinvestigation.”