The 'entertainment establishment' Burning Sun incident has emerged again... The miserable reality was that it was a ‘degenerate business’

Five years have passed since the incident was reported and the convict was released from prison, but the victims' pain has not been healed. The past, in which cruel crimes were treated as entertainment among the perpetrators, and the space called 'Burning Sun', which was an entertainment establishment, was transformed into a decadent establishment steeped in crime, is an ongoing pain for the victims.

While the BBC was reporting on the 'Burning Sun Gate' that occurred in 2018 and 2019, the content of the conversation that took place in a group chat room belonging to singers Jung Joon-young and Seungri was revealed, shocking the public.

In the group chat room, they regarded the crime of raping an unconscious woman and sharing illegal footage of the scene as light and enjoyable entertainment.

In 2016, when one of the members of the group chat room asked, “Did you taste Daegu** (female) yesterday?” Jung Joon-young responded, “It was the funniest day in my life.” Jung Joon-young then added, "My brother got caught (illegal filming) because he set off the flash lol. Why did he set off the flash there? It was so funny."

When another member said, "Oh, yesterday, Junyoung and I were really surprised because we thought that girl really had a concussion. When she fell, we heard the sound of her skull breaking," and Jung Junyoung sent a laughing emoticon.

Reporter Kang Kyeong-yoon, who covered the Burning Sun incident at the time, lamented about this, saying, "It was so ugly and played with women like toys. It contained content that neutralized the women and insulted and disgusted them. They boasted about it like a trophy and giggled."

While the perpetrators laughed happily and boasted about their crimes, the victims suffered as they recalled the moment when their lives were threatened, and even five years later, they have not been able to escape those memories.

One victim complained in an interview with the BBC that she was the victim of drug-induced rape at Burning Sun five years ago. According to Mr. A, who was interviewed on condition of anonymity, one day at Burning Sun, he drank one or two drinks given to him by a man and felt extremely drunk. He said to his younger brother in the bathroom, "I feel strange today. I feel like I'm getting drunk really quickly," and "I don't think I should drink anymore from now on," and complained about his strange symptoms.

Mr. A cried, saying, “When I came to, I was on a bed.” He said, “The man who gave me alcohol rushed at me, forcibly took my clothes off, and violently suppressed my resistance.” Mr. A then said, "I felt like he was going to kill me. He was a person who did not stop and tried to continue his actions even though he was in so much pain. So I gave up and lay down."

After forced sexual intercourse took place, when Mr. A complained that he wanted to go home, the man forced him to smile and take a picture with him. Mr. A went to the police station to report sexual assault, but the man claimed that the sexual intercourse took place consensually, using photos taken with the woman as evidence, and the man was allowed to leave the country.

Looking at the following references to 'Burning Sun Gate', it seems difficult to simply call Burning Sun an 'entertainment establishment.' Of course, there is no sin in space itself. For some, Burning Sun was an entertainment establishment, a space for enjoyable entertainment. However, evildoers used it as a crime scene, turning the space into a ‘degenerate establishment.’

Above all, if singer Seungri, who is the executive director leading Burning Sun, took the lead in arranging prostitution, it seems even more difficult to call the space an entertainment establishment with the purpose of healthy entertainment.

According to the Standard Korean Dictionary, entertainment means ‘having fun.’ Furthermore, an entertainment establishment is defined as ‘a place that operates with facilities for having fun, such as a bar.’

Meanwhile, if you look at the dictionary definition of decadence, it is ‘a disarray in morals, customs, culture, etc.’ In addition, the Standard Korean Dictionary defines a decadent establishment as ‘a place that conducts illegal business while harming public morals.’ Therefore, it can be seen that Burning Sun functioned more as a decadent establishment than as an entertainment establishment.

Based on the dictionary definition, entertainment in itself cannot be considered a bad thing. However, a cruel crime committed for the enjoyment limited to a specific person cannot be dismissed as ‘fun entertainment’. Suddenly, the victim's tears were covered by the perpetrator's laughter. Through the investigation, the victim's voice was raised to the world, but the perpetrators were soon released from prison and enjoyed 'entertainment' again. I sincerely hope that another ‘degenerate establishment’ does not appear following Burning Sun.

Reporter Lee Min-kyung, Ten Asia 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr