Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following the back-and-forth between a journalist and YG Entertainment and Yuri Holdings over the SBS FunE report linking Seungri to providing prostitutes to investors, there were a lot of rumors and speculation swirling but not a whole lot I considered substantial. Well, until now there is, as a follow-up report by SBS FunE revealed that the original texts were indeed sent to an authority, but that authority was not the police, because they are suspected of being compromised.
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Since we last left off, suspicions about the existence of the texts and the credibility of the SBS FunE report were continually being raised, and police added fuel to the fire by stating that they were yet to receive the original texts, as well as questioning their existence.
On March 4, a source from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency initially stated, “We have yet to secure an original copy of the [KakaoTalk] messages. We are contacting people [who are tied to the messages] in order to confirm [the existence of the original copy].” The police continued, “Not only have we not confirmed its existence, but we also received a testimony that such messages do not exist.”
Well, as it turns out, that was by design. The reporter likely had the source send them to the Anti-Corruption And Civil Rights Commission (ACCRC) due to feeling like the police were no longer trustworthy.
In contrast to the statement from the police, SBS funE exclusively reported that the original copy of the text messages has been secured by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. According to the report, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission confirmed that on February 22, a whistleblower submitted text messages that contain the evidence of Seungri lobbying to foreign investors by ordering sexual escort services. SBS funE reported that these messages were exchanged between Seungri, CEO Yoo of Yuri Holdings, and various celebrities.
SBS funE also interviewed a person who is responsible for reporting the messages to the organization. The source revealed, “The KakaoTalk messages suggested that there was a deep connection with the police, so I reported it to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission instead.”
The ACCRC confirmed that they would be looking into the materials before forwarding them down the chain, and suggested they may even bypass the police entirely if the connections revealed are deeper than expected.
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission stated that they will inspect the materials internally before transferring them to the police or the prosecution for further investigation. The commission will also consider directly handing over the materials to the prosecution if the connection to the police is found to be deeper than expected.
Furthermore, apparently the police were aware this was happening on March 1, which sorta makes their leak to the press on March 4 suspicious. As if they’re trying to discredit the reporter and the source when they knew full well the materials were sent above them.
The report further revealed that the Seoul Police Department became aware of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s procurement of the original copy of text messages on March 1, and the police formally requested for the organization to cooperate with them regarding the documents on March 4. The police shared in a new following statement that the messages will be forwarded to the police depending on internal discussion within the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. According to the police, the whistleblower submitted the documents to the commission’s office in Seoul, and they are now being transferred to a different office in Sejong. The police commented, “We visited the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s office in Seoul and were told that the materials are currently in the mail [to the Sejong office].”
Again, it’s just yet another thing that doesn’t prove anything yet, but if they’re trying to come off as shady as possible as if they were guilty then they’re doing a great job.
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On a related note, it was recently reported by Kuki News that the Burning Sun CEO Mr. Lee had offered police a bribe in order to look past them allowing minors in.
Lee, who has been participating in police investigations, has recently admitted to the fact that he gave 20 million KRW ($17,780 USD) to former policeman Kang, who was serving as a broker, in order to cover up Burning Sun’s case involving the entry of minors last year. Lee acknowledged the fact after the police showed the bank statements as proof during interrogations. Lee claims that he gave the money but did not know that the money was transferred to the police officers. On February 25, during his first police investigation, Lee denied all accusations.
Though the CEO claims that he didn’t know where the money was going, what in the fuck was he giving like 18 grand to some random dude for exactly?
It was also revealed that the ex-police officer he gave the cash to did in fact contact members of the Gangnam Police Station, and the Seoul Metropolitan Police are now looking into his call history.
“We have obtained the call history for the phone used by Mr. Kang and are currently analyzing it. The numerous employees who received calls from Mr. Kang have made statements denying the request and acceptance of bribes.”
Despite their denials, the report says that the officers who received calls from the ex-police officer took bribes to cover up investigations into Burning Sun.
It is understood that among those who received calls from Kang were policemen who are known to have received the 20 million KRW ($17,780 USD) and 300,000 KRW ($266 USD) to cover up investigations on Burning Sun.
The investigations are far from over, and in fact they seem to be expanding, but an outlet like SBS generally doesn’t fabricate a report and likely wouldn’t have their source send materials above the police’s head because the texts in question were bullshit, nor are they going to put out suspicions of police corruption lightly.
Then the link between that and the Burning Sun CEO appearing to bribe the police through a go-between certainly seems to lend credibility that this is somehow even bigger than a crackdown of clubs in Korea, but also one of police corruption. In that case, Seungri and Burning Sun are just the catalyst to all this, but are ultimately small potatoes to what this all could eventually unfurl.
