Update 3: Jung Joon Young personally admits to the crimes he’s been accused of, announces his retirement in an apology letter. Read the full statement here.
Update 2: Jung Joon Young returns to South Korea, gets bombarded with reporters cameras. Police announce he’s been booked on serious allegations. Read the full report here.
Update 1: SBS reveals more distressing chatroom conversations talking about alleged criminal acts. The messages involve sexual assault and violence (Read this report)
Original Article
Singer Jung Joon Young has been embroiled in controversy following SBS’s 8 O’Clock News airing on March 11.
The show reported serious accusations against the singer, the report revealed that he had been one of the celebrities in a chatroom with Seungri and other male singers, in the chatroom, illegally taken footage of hidden camera have been shared. The report also states there are other celebrities in the chatrooms who engaged in conversations with Jung Joon Young relating to the alleged illegally taken footage.
According to SBS, some of the records of the conversations date back to late 2015, they have been restored through an excel file. In the chatroom conversations, Singer Jung Joon Young brags about engaging in intercourse with various females and shares clips to chatrooms, the singer also proudly announces he had filmed the footages secretly.
SBS revealed in the report that the count of female victims is likely to increase as the incident unfolds. According to SBS, at least 10 people have been confirmed as victims who were allegedly filmed without their consent.
Following the explosive report, Singer Jung Joon Young name trended on Naver and topped real-time searches, his agency initially stated they had not been able to confirm the SBS report because Jung Joon Young was in the United States filming for a variety show called “4 Wheeled Resturant.”
Shortly after that initial statement, his agency MakeUs Entertainment returned with an official statement, in the statement they explain the singer is returning to Korea as soon as possible to participate in the police investigation, the singer had decided to stop all his activities and return to Korea to address the matter.
You can read their full statement here.
Jung Joon Young was a part of three Korean variety shows, most notably the hit KBS show “2 Days and 1 Night.” Following the explosive report, many news outlets reached out to the variety show to know what the status of the singer participation will be.
On March 12, the production team of “2 Days and 1 Night” returned with an official statement confirming they had decided to edit out the singer footage and he will no longer be participating in the show. He had filmed for two episodes but asserted his scenes will be edited out as much as possible.
Soon after the report by SBS News, media outlet Dispatch also released a report, the report further accuses the singer of having more than 10 group and one-on-one chatrooms in where he shares the illegally taken hidden cameras.
According to Dispatch, the singer allegedly calls girl group members ‘loose’ and brags about having intercourse with them in his chatrooms with friends, acquaintances and male celebrities. You can read various translations of the Dispatch report here, here and here.
Shortly after Dispatch’s report, tvN returned with a statement confirming the singer will be leaving the cast of the other two variety shows he had been a part of, Salty Tour” and “4 Wheeled Restaurant.”
tvN explains that Jung Joon Young was supposed to be filming “4 Wheeled Restaurant” season 3 in LA (which he had been doing when the reports broke out), however, the producers of the show understand the gravity of the allegations made against him and as a result, he will be edited out completely.
“Salty Tour” production team also shares the same sentiment; they understand the gravity of the matter and will also be editing out all of his footage from the show.
The singer has been removed from all the variety shows he has been a part of. As of this writing, he is returning to South Korea to participate in the investigation. Netizens are extremely distressed and displeased with Jung Joon Young. The public is demanding for the police to thoroughly investigate Jung Joon Young and bring justice to the female victims who are affected by the alleged footage.
Hidden camera footage and illegal filming of women has been a reoccurring problem for South Koreans for some time now, many women were finding hidden cameras in public bathrooms and changing rooms, the cameras film women illegally. The Korean police has been trying its best to crack down on the filming and distribution of the hidden camera footage.
With the recent serious allegations against Jung Joon Young, the public is extremely displeased that men continue to take advantage of women filming them without their consent. The issue is of big caliber because its involved a popular Korean singer who has a huge supporting fan base.
The reason the reports are gaining so much attention is because this isn’t the first time Jung Joon Young has been involved in similar controversy. Back in 2016, his then girlfriend accused him of filming her having intercourse without her consent.
Back then, the singer had to step down from the variety shows he’s been in and released many statements and even held a press conference addressing the matter.
In the press conference he clarified the filming was agreed upon and the girlfriend had filed the sexual assault charges impulsively, he also added he had deleted the video.
In a later investigation by the prosecution, the singer was found not guilty. The two parties ended up settling and no charges were filed. According to Soompi, the police couldn’t prove he had filmed a part of her body in a way that makes her feel sexually violated, thus he was acquitted. You can read more about that case here, here and here.
Stay tuned for updates!
