[Inside a club. Photo Credit to Unsplash]

On the 19th, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) released a documentary titled “Burning Sun : The Stories of Women Who Exposed K-Pop Stars’ Secret Chat Room.”

The one-hour long documentary revealed previously unknown facts and events related to the so-called “Burning Sun Gate,”a scandal that shocked Korean society in 2019.

Reaching close to 2 million views in 24 hours of its release, the documentary quickly gained tremendous attention.

“Burning Sun Gate” refers to a number of illegal activities such as rape, drug abuse, and police collusion that happened in the Burning Sun nightclub located in Gangnam, Seoul.

At the center of this incident were top Korean celebrities such as Seungri from Big Bang, Jung Joon-Young, and Choi Jong Hoon.

The documentary introduces the collusion between these K-Pop stars and the police, and the efforts of many unsung heroes who sought to expose the truth.

One of the most notable revelations was the involvement of Goo Hara, a former member of Korean girl group KARA, in the Burning Sun Gate investigation process.

Reporter Kang Kyung Yoon, who spearheaded the Burning Sun investigation, emphasized that identifying the police chief involved in the collusion was a key issue.

Goo Hara made a significant contribution to this process using her personal connection with Choi Jong Hoon, one of the members of the Burning Sun group chat.

The documentary also featured numerous anonymous victims who came forward to share their stories to aid reporters in their investigation.

Moreover, the documentary included previously unreleased videos from the Burning Sun crew’s KakaoTalk chat room.

These videos showed members sexually assualting women who were incapacitated after drinking alcohol, along with numerous illegally recorded videos of women.

The documentary concludes with an interview with the current managing director of a Korean Club, who stated, “[Even after the Burning Sun Gate,] drugs like “Mulppong” are still prevalent in Korean Clubs,” implying that another Burning Sun still exists today.

The release of the documentary reignited public outrage over the Burning Sun Gate and related social issues.

Many viewers voiced criticism, particularly about the possibility of crimes involving collusion between the entertainment industry and the police in Korean society.

They also criticized the fact that the foreign broadcasting company, BBC, covered these issues before Korean media did.

The BBC has been covering the story of Burning Sun through various media, such as articles, podcasts, and radio, for several years.

Other international media outlets, such as The New York Times, have also consistently covered the scandal.

With the release of this documentary, the Burning Sun incident has once again come to the forefront of public discourse, both in Korea and internationally.