[Newsmaker] Police target Seungri in sex-trade investigation

Seoul police on Tuesday said they had launched an investigation into an allegation that K-pop star Seungri of Big Bang ordered his employees to procure sexual favors for his investors at a nightclub.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, its special crime squad will seek to verify a recent report by SBS funE showing text messages it claimed the singer had written. The messages indicated that he and his employees had attempted to procure prostitutes for two men accompanying an investor from Taiwan.

Seungri and the other parties mentioned in the text conversation are subject to investigation, police said.

The text messages, revealed earlier Tuesday, show a conversation purportedly involving Seungri; an employee surnamed Kim; and a man surnamed Yu, who co-heads an investment company with Seungri. The conversation ends with Yu saying he is procuring prostitutes to be led back to the hotel where the two men are staying.

The text conversation supposedly took place in December 2015, when Seungri was reportedly contacting investors from within and outside the country for his enterprises. The most notable establishment the singer is involved in is the Burning Sun nightclub in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, which has ensnared him in a series of scandals concerning the alleged use of date-rape drugs on the premises and alleged corrupt ties between the club and the local police.

The aforementioned special crime squad is currently investigating the allegations involving Burning Sun.

Seungri’s agency, YG entertainment, released an official statement on Tuesday denying the sex-for-favors reports.

“We have checked with (Seungri) and found that the report in question comprises fabricated text messages and is not true. In addition, we would like to state once again that YG will, as we always have, take firm legal action against (anyone) spreading rumors, including fake news,” it said.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)