The BBC are releasing a six-part series on the Burning Sun scandal

  • Intrigue: Burning Sun in white text. Red neon stair case and red beams coming out of doorway at top of stairs


    A new six-part series for BBC Radio 4’s Intrigue podcast strand, Burning Sun, will explore the sex scandals that brought down some of the world’s biggest K-pop stars, in a tale of depravity, power and excess - hidden behind a facade of wholesome pop music beloved across the globe.


    Co-created and presented by investigative journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou, Burning Sun pieces together - for the first time - this remarkable and shocking story. Chloe speaks to the key players who fought to expose these crimes, and documents the explosive fallout. The series goes on to explore how misogyny has driven a wedge between men and women that some believe is causing a crisis for South Korea itself.


    In 2019, some of the world’s most popular music stars were found guilty of sharing secretly filmed sex videos, others of rape. Korean heart-throbs, used to being mobbed by adoring female fans, had been videoing themselves committing acts of terrible abuse and sharing them on group chats with each other. And in the nightclub “Burning Sun” frequented by celebrities - and co-owned by one of them – police investigated allegations of misconduct against women. The club was closed down, and Burning Sun became synonymous with these sex scandals.


    The team go on to explore how these cases highlight an ‘epidemic’ of spy-cam crimes, where women are filmed without their consent walking up metro stairs, in public toilets and during sex.


    The series was made with a South Korean production team, and nearly all the interviews in the series were in Korean, and are voiced by actors.


    Co-creator and presenter Chloe Hadjimatheou says “This is an astounding story we have been working on for years. It’s taken a long time to build trust with the main players – women who helped shed light on scandals that very nearly never saw the light of day. It’s about how in one of the most futuristic and technologically advanced places on earth, women are still fighting for their most basic of rights, and it’s caused a fault line in South Korean society.”

    Commissioning Editor Daniel Clarke says “With K-pop now a global phenomenon, this important series takes us on a really disconcerting but ultimately fascinating journey into how a terrible scandal came to light, exposing some of the world’s biggest music stars.”


    Intrigue: Burning Sun starts on Monday 26 June. The full boxset will be available as part of BBC Radio 4’s Intrigue strand on BBC Sounds from Monday 26th June, with episodes broadcast weekly at 20:00.


    A TV documentary is due to be released soon.


    article HERE

  • I hope the BBC goes into the motives of the reporter. Because she singlehandedly ruined this case by going on this public reveal a person once a day or week bs like it was a Sunday lottery drawing 🤡. This BS allowed those pulling the strings and those higher ups to get out of the situation Scott free as they were given advanced warning by her. This is like finding out the house next door is a crack den and then putting a public notice on their door telling them you know and you will call police in a few days. Watch how the smart one's clean the place up dispose of evidence etc so when the cops come there's little to no evidence and 99% of the criminals go Scott free or with a very light slap on the wrist due to very little evidence

  • The BBC also did the Predator expose earlier in the year on Johnny's & Associates (whose idol system including continuous recruitment and training inspired what Lee Soo Man came up with in Korea):


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    It was already an open secret - rumors had been circulating of his ways from decades back, there was a lawsuit against him once, and some former idols even wrote tell-all books, but the public mostly turned a blind eye and the media was able to keep the issue hushed. Systemically, this was in large part due to the cross ownership structure of the 5 major newspapers and 5 major tv stations and Johnny was important enough for tv. So Johnny didn't have to threaten, pay-off or even request them to keep their mouths shut - they just did, there is a term in Japanese called "sontaku" used to explain this phenomenon.


    It's interesting to contrast this with the Fifty Fifty scandal, which although much less salacious, is seemingly receiving a lot of news coverage. However, upon closer inspection, you'll notice that almost all of it, including the recent "biased-coverage" accusations against the SBS show, are from less reputable "sports news" dispatch or other more tabloid-y outlets that the Kpop industrial complex, represented by the 5 industry profession organizations have influence over. The cherry on top is that, instead of just turning a blind eye, it can be said that fandoms and maybe even the public are on the side of the Kpop industrial complex and actively so.


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  • I hope to finally understand what really happened

    It's a confusing case largely because it's not one case, rather it's several that all coincide/are adjacent to each other.


    So technically not everything is Burning Sun, but everything is treated as Burning Sun cause they happened around the same time.

  • Interesting

    All this time I thought it was Japanese press who exposed Johnny

  • I hope to finally understand what really happened

    Me too.

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  • Interesting

    All this time I thought it was Japanese press who exposed Johnny

    Yes after an idol came forward. Yes it's no secret that kpop is from Jpop Johnny literally paved the way for kpop BTS and everything else. The entire industry is based off the jpop system from the whole idea of idols, the training,the agency acting as scout, talent agency, record label, dance studio and filming studio all in one and walled garden style operations where no one is allowed in and everything from raising idols since kids etc is all done by the agency behind closed doors with little or no oversight/accountability. A system started in the 70s by Johnny kitagwa and copied by Korea from SM to YG JYP and ultimately HYBE everyone of these companies operate nearly identical.


    If something similar that happened in Japan ever happened in Korea, you won't know about it until 5 to 10 yrs later after people like lee soman,bang pd jyp and yg all died. The only reason Johnny got exposed is because he passed away. Once he died his power and influence over the industry and media was severely weakened and his victims let alone the media were afraid to ever challenge him until now because dead men can't come get you. It was known he was a monster for years but nobody dared to really bring it out because he probably could make your ass disappear.

  • None of the Big 3/4 have/had the political clout and overwhelming industry domination Johnny did. I'm sure they've their skeletons, but those skeletons aren't as free from exposure as Johnny was.


    He's far closer to a Kim Beom-soo or one of the Lotte Shins than a Lee Soo-man

  • Did mans really contrast the coverage a label dispute with one of the largest national scandal in korean history.

    Japanese history. And specifically in regards to the nature of news coverage, not salaciousness as I mentioned.


    Would you like to compare Watergate to Taylor Swift's masters issue while you're at it?

    No. For Watergate, I have a better American comparison. I'd point out the irony that while the Washington Post was heralded for breaking the Watergate story back in the day, today it's an outlet for gov't propaganda. And ironically, it took an independent tabloid, the New York Post, to break the story on Hunter Biden and tell the truth about it. It took a while for the public to grudgingly come around due to cognitive dissonance after it could no longer be denied. Makes me want to also compare this aspect of public opinion evolution, or lack of, to the SBS show and Fifty Fifty's case, but I'll spare triggering you.

  • Japanese history. And specifically in regards to the nature of news coverage, not salaciousness as I mentioned.


    No. For Watergate, I have a better American comparison. I'd point out the irony that while the Washington Post was heralded for breaking the Watergate story back in the day, today it's an outlet for gov't propaganda. And ironically, it took an independent tabloid, the New York Post, to break the story on Hunter Biden and tell the truth about it. It took a while for the public to grudgingly come around due to cognitive dissonance after it could no longer be denied. Makes me want to also compare this aspect of public opinion evolution, or lack of, to the SBS show and Fifty Fifty's case, but I'll spare triggering you.

    Hunter Biden being of all the possible american scandals to use as a contrasting example is... well it's certainly an example I guess.


    No, I meant Korean history. I'm not talking about Johnny's there, I'm referring to Burning Sun.

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