Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
Police question Seungri over overseas gambling allegation
Seungri, a former member of K-pop boy group BIGBANG, bows before being questioned at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's intellectual crime investigation division over his alleged overseas gambling, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
Police summoned Seungri, a former member of K-pop boy band BIGBANG, Wednesday, to question him over allegations of illegal overseas gambling.
Yang Hyun-suk, the former head of Seungri's former agency YG Entertainment, will also be questioned today on the same charges.
Seungri's summons came more than three months after he avoided arrest on accusations involving drug use and rape at the posh nightclub “Burning Sun,” as well as the embezzlement of funds from the club.
The singer appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's serious crime investigation division in the morning.
“I apologize for causing a stir, and will sincerely cooperate with the questioning,” Seungri told reporters before entering the police building.
However, he did not comment on questions about the gambling charges.
Earlier this month, police booked Seungri and Yang over the gambling allegations.
The two were allegedly regular guests at VIP rooms at the MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, where they allegedly gambled millions of dollars. They are also suspected of having illegally secured funds for gambling in violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
Under the current law, a person caught gambling can be punished with a maximum fine of 10 million won ($8,232), while habitual gamblers can be imprisoned for up to three year or fined 20 million won.
Gambling is illegal in the country for locals except at one casino in Gangwon Province, and Korean nationals are held to the country's laws even when gambling abroad as Korea operates extra-territorial jurisdiction regarding actions that are illegal here.
Earlier this year Seungri was also booked for buying sex, providing female escort services for foreign investors, and embezzling at least 500 million won from the nightclub. The police sent the case to the prosecution in June, asking them to indict him.
Yang is scheduled to be questioned by police over the gambling allegations Thursday.
On Aug.17, the police searched YG Entertainment offices to secure evidence and reportedly obtained financial documents from YG Entertainment's U.S. entity from U.S. authorities. They have been analyzing the seized materials and the data to see if Yang misused the company funds for gambling.
He has also been banned from leaving the country.
Yang, a former member of popular boy band Seo Taiji and Boys in the 1990s, stepped down as the chief of YG Entertainment in June amid the multiple allegations surrounding him and stars of the agency.
He was separately booked in July for allegedly hiring prostitutes to serve his foreign investors at a high-end restaurant in Seoul in July 2014. It is said that Yang and two singers from his entertainment company, along with two foreign investors from Southeast Asian countries, were accompanied by 24 women at a restaurant, and around 10 of them were prostitutes from a brothel in Gangnam in southern Seoul.
Police interrogated Yang on the escort service allegations in late June.