Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Choi Jong Hoon has already admitted his role in the Jung Joon Young/Seungri group chats, but his connection to police corruption has been an ongoing issue and recently culminated with him being booked for a bribery attempt. Well police explained exactly what happened during his DUI in 2016 that was somehow covered up from the media.
SBS spoke with multiple sources within the police force for more details about the case. According to their report, in February 2016, Choi Jong Hoon was driving under the influence when he saw a police vehicle. He began driving in reverse, and the police officer found this suspicious and immediately stopped him. When the police officer tried to test him for his alcohol content, Choi Jong Hoon abandoned his car and ran, and the police officer put handcuffs on him to restrain him and stop him from running. In the process, Choi Jong Hoon is said to have offered the police officer two million won (approximately $1,778) and lied about his identity and said he was unemployed.
I know impairment of decision making happens when you’re drunk, but it is amazing how he couldn’t just drive past the police or not do the single thing that’ll get the most attention aside from ramming them with his car.
In the infamous group chat, he later brought it up.
According to SBS’s reports, Choi Jong Hoon shared messages in the group chatroom in March 2016 that read, “The chrome hearts [handcuffs] were pretty painful. Anyone who hasn’t worn them before can’t talk,” and “Before he put them on, I offered him 10 million won (approximately $8,850).”
*Cringe*
But moving on to the important part, the police explained why this story was able to be kept quiet for three years.
When a public figure is caught driving under the influence, police officers are required to report to a superior officer, and by Choi Jong Hoon claiming he was unemployed, it can be inferred that his incident was not reported as per protocol. At the time, Choi Jong Hoon’s blood alcohol content was at 0.097 percent, and his license was suspended and he received a fine, but no bribery charges were made. SBS reports that on March 17, the police officer who was offered the bribe was called in and when he confirmed the bribe had been offered, Choi Jong Hoon was booked on charges of attempted bribery of a police officer on March 21, approximately three years and one month after the incident.
I’m not the only one skeptical of this from the police, right? Like he offered a bribe, it didn’t get noted at the time by police and neither did they recognize him as a celeb, and they just took his unemployment excuse at his word, but now he’s getting hit with charges cause the officer remembers.
Granted, it’s entirely possible things happened the way he describes, it just seems like the easier explanation for why it was suppressed was they paid somebody off to mark him down as unemployed. They’ve hung out to dry far more nugu celebs than him on a DUI, after all.
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Following up on the investigation into YG Entertainment by the National Tax Service, aside from the clubs, they are looking into their overseas profits.
“Newsdesk” reported on allegations that YG Entertainment and Yang Hyun Suk are under suspicion of tax evasion in relation to overseas performances. According to “Newsdesk,” YG Entertainment has earned approximately 300 billion won (approximately $265.7 million) in sales every year for the past three years, which also includes sales from world tour performances overseas by their label artists. However, YG is under suspicion of underreporting their overseas concert earnings to the National Tax Service. The apparent method involves YG Entertainment reporting the earnings as their artists’ individual income rather than earnings of the agency. As they would be reporting less earnings, the agency would also be paying less in taxes.
Perhaps more worrying for YG and his brother Yang Min Suk is that they are being looked at personally.
In addition, “Newsdesk” reported that the National Tax Service is focusing specifically on Yang Hyun Suk, the founder of YG Entertainment. According to MBC, the National Tax Service has found what appears to be abnormal stock transactions by Yang Hyun Suk and are currently focusing on tracking the whereabouts of the money from the stock sales. They are also said to be looking into the foreign investment capital Yang Hyun Suk has personally talked about, whether the investors actually exist, where the investments come from, and the nature of the investments.
Better chance they get busted on this and get a slap on the wrist than anything, honestly.
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Also, because people always question what happens to the other members of the group chat who aren’t famous, well the Burning Sun employee Mr. Kim was also arrested along with Jung Joon Young.
