Netizens Mention Yong Jun-hyung, Zico & Lee Chul-woo In Re-examination Of Burning Sun Scandal
Following the release of BBC’s Burning Sun documentary, netizens re-examined people who were suspected to be involved in the case
On May 19th, BBC News Korea released a video titled “Burning Sun: Exposing the secret K-pop chat groups” containing the story of former BIGBANG member Seungri’s involvement in the Burning Sun Scandal, former F.T. Island member Choi Jong-hoon’s sexual assault and illegal filming crime as well as Jung Joon-young’s controversial group chat.
As the Burning Sun Scandal was re-examined, the public poured criticism on Hyuna’s boyfriend Yong Jun-hyung again.
Yong Jun-hyung reportedly received an illegal video from Jung Joon-young in a 1:1 chat conversation and made inappropriate comments back in 2015. Due to the issue, he withdrew from HIGHLIGHT then enlisted and got discharged from the military in November 2020. Making his comeback in 2022, Yong Jun-hyung explained, “I did not participate in any of Jung Joon-young’s group chats”. Although Yong Jun-hyung was not legally punished, he could not avoid criticism from the public for being a bystander who turned a blind eye to criminal acts.
The fact that Yong Jun-hyung is Goo Ha-ra’s ex-lover and his current girlfriend is Hyuna, who used to be very close to Goo Ha-ra, also leads criticism to turn to Hyuna. After watching BBC’s documentary about Burning Sun, many netizens went to Hyuna’s SNS account and left comments expressing disappointment in her relationship with Yong Jun-hyung.
People called out singer Zico again. In 2016, Zico appeared on MBC’s “Radio Star” and caused a stir by revealing that Jung Joon-young had a “golden mobile phone”. He said, “It’s not his regular phone. Jung Joon-young only uses it for messaging in emergency situations. He saves numbers of many people, like a ‘Pokemon’s guidebook’”. In response, Jung Joon-young said, “Zico visits my house and finds the ‘golden phone’. He looks through it carefully as if it were his.”
As such, netizens raised suspicions over what Zico saw in Jung Joon-young’s “golden phone”. In this regard, Zico stated, “I have nothing to do with the unpleasant incident. All I saw was a list of contacts of his acquaintances and we haven’t been in touch for a long time.”
Re-examining Jung Joon-young’s crime, some netizens wondered, “Jung Joon-young tried to destroy evidence, such as getting rid of his ‘golden phone’, as soon as the investigation began, but how could Zico say he saw nothing aside from numbers?”, “Didn’t you get to know about Jung Joon-young’s crime after reading his personal messages?”, etc.
In addition, model-turned-actor Lee Chul-woo also had to explain rumors of his involvement in Jung Joon-young’s group chat. On May 20th, he firmly stated, “I want to emphasize again that I did not participate in the group chat with illegal content”. He continued, “The group chat I mentioned was a group chat to share the schedules and content necessary for the filming of an entertainment program I filmed in 2016”, adding “Not only me but my family and acquaintances are also suffering from malicious comments due to false information that has been spreading for years”. In 2019, when suspicions of his involvement in the Burning Sun group chat arose, the actor already denied it through his agency.
Meanwhile, BBC’s documentary about the Burning Sun Scandal is gaining popularity among global K-pop fans.
