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| Women's rights groups hold a press conference in front of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Friday, condemning the recent results of the police's investigation into the Burning Sun nightclub which failed to discover alleged cozy ties between police and club operators. Yonhap |
By Lee Suh-yoon
Three months after police launched an investigation into alleged rapes and drug use at the nightclub Burning Sun and the cozy ties between police officers and the club owners, justice is still far from reach, women's groups said Friday.
None of the key players in what the groups refer to as the country's "rape business cartel" were held accountable in results announced Wednesday. Exceptions were K-pop star Jung Joon-young, who left clear digital evidence of illicit sex video sharing in mobile chatrooms, and a couple of Burning Sun staff members who were involved in a physical assault on a male customer who first raised suspicions of the collusive links with police.
The results of the investigation ― which was conducted by 152 officers and on which the police chief said he would risk the police organization's fate ― were condemned by the coalition of women's rights groups as "dismal."
"The police report said there were no suspicious ties between the police and the sex industry, and no charges could be brought against superintendent Yoon. Seungri and the other key figures of Burning Sun Gate can freely roam the streets," the coalition said in a press conference held in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
"The result of this investigation shows how infallibly male power operates, and how easily women's calls for justice are silenced."
Yoon, a senior police superintendent, was mentioned in group chatrooms with male K-pop stars as someone who "watched their backs" to cover the illicit dealings that went on at Burning Sun and other nightlife businesses run by former boy band BIGBANG member Seungri. It was found that Seungri and his business partner Yoo In-suk treated Yoon to meals and golf trips. But Yoon was not charged with violating the anti-graft law because the value of these "did not warrant criminal punishment," according to police.
A local court also denied an arrest warrant for Seungri Tuesday night, saying the charges of embezzlement were contested due to a lack of evidence for this and his alleged arranging of prostitution services for investors.
"None of the allegations, including those of cozy relations between police and nightlife establishments, illegal filming of women and spreading of such clips, have been resolved," the coalition said. "The police should not regard the Burning Sun scandal as an illegal act at one club; they should make a thorough investigation to eradicate the industry exploiting women and female sexuality."
Shin Ji-ye, a former Green Party candidate for the position of Seoul mayor, said the investigation results echoed a disturbingly familiar pattern.
"It was the same 10 years ago in the sexual abuse case of the late actress Jang Ja-yeon. Key male suspects in power all got away and in the end just the entertainment agency head and two managers got slaps on the wrist on charges of physical violence," Shin told reporters on Friday. "If such kinds of investigations continue to be the norm, Korea will be nothing more than a kingdom of rape run by powerful insiders."
The Burning Sun scandal is but one of the country's many misogyny-based traumas. This Friday was also the third anniversary of a murder at Gangnam Station, in which a man stabbed a random woman to death in the restroom of a bar. He later justified his action by claiming women looked down on him.
A memorial rally is scheduled at the site at 7 p.m.
More rallies are planned over the weekend to call for stronger government action over the Burning Sun scandal and the rampant rape culture it revealed inside the nightclub business. Over 50,000 people have signed an online petition calling for a special probe into VIP nightclub guests who allegedly paid for the provision of drugged female clubbers to rape.
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