Being the role models of many young people, KPOP idols are required, and even trained,
to have righteous qualifications.
However, there are still some individuals daring to cross the line and satisfy contemporary
temptations.
Though such actions were often done at the expense of everything they had worked hard
to build from the ground up, these idols still committed the crimes just to end up staying
behind the bars and losing all the fans.
First comes the case of the only female idol on the list, GLAM’s Kim Dahee.
During the summer of 2014, Dahee and her model friend Lee Jiyeon, met with famous Korean
actor Lee Byung Hun a few times.
Back then, Byung Hun was pretty huge in both Asia and the West for being the only actor
to ever sell out the Tokyo Dome and for his iconic appearance in some of the G.I Joe films.
That’s why when the scandal between him and GLAM’s Dahee happened, the public was
all eyes on them and thus, the image of Dahee was severely destroyed.
Though the idol and her friend were declared guilty, as what actually took place that night
has never been confirmed, you guys shouldn’t take the story about to be told so seriously.
Despite Byung Hun being recently married, he'd allegedly been making sexual advances
towards Jiyeon.
Though she had been initially uninterested, at least until money entered the equation,
they still ended up having an affair behind his wife's back.
However, at some point, the couple had a heated argument about either sex, money, or both
since according to him, as she wanted him to buy her a house, he told her that they
should break up.
Furious, Jiyeon enlisted her friend Dahee’s help to blackmail the actor.
Then came the part that was confirmed by the parties in court.
Sometime in August 2014 while Byung Hun’s wife was away, Jiyeon and Dahee visited his
apartment for drinks.
After the actor got drunk, Dahee filmed him making sexual comments toward Jiyeon and then
they both threatened to release the tapes to the public, unless Byung Hun paid them
5 billion KRW (about $4,4 million USD), immediately.
Dahee and her friend even prepared passports to Europe, apparently planning to flee the
country after they got their money.
Unfortunately, that amount of money was too much compared to what Byung Hun was willing
to pay to save his reputation.
He reported the attempt of blackmail to the police, and warrants were filed for the two
women’s arrest.
There was even a source saying that Dahee and Jiyeon got freaked out and tried to buy
plane tickets to escape Korea, but they didn’t get far.
Eventually, they were arrested on September 1st of 2014.
On January 15, 2015, Dahee was sentenced to prison along with her friend Jiyeon, for the
crime of blackmailing.
Since Dahee’s relationship with Byung Hun was not as close as Jiyeon’s, the court
demanded her to serve one year in prison rather than one year and two months like her friend.
Luckily, her life hadn’t come to a dead-end because after being released from prison,
she signed a modeling contract with BJ of AfreecaTB with a monthly salary of around
$200,000.
This number also makes sense since she has multiple times flexed on Instagram about the
wealthy and luxurious life that she was leading.
Besides, though Dahee is no longer an idol, she still sometimes does dance covers of KPOP
songs to satisfy her passion for music.
In 2019, the country was once again shaken by another sexual scandal with the involvement
of two big names: FT.Island’s Choi Jong-Hoon and Jung Joon-young, the talent ranked 3rd
in the 2012 Superstar K4.
The story was so big that it even made the headlines of the New York Times in one article
called: “Two K-Pop Stars Sentenced to Prison for Rape.”
According to the paper, the police began investigating the matter in early 2019 after it was reported
that Jung Joon-young, along with other members of an online chat group, had bragged about
drugging and sexually assaulting women​.
Even worse, he then shared the surreptitiously recorded videos of assaults as if it was a
proud achievement that needed to be widely known about.
Though the police have never said who originally came forward with the information, citing
regulations meant to protect whistle-blowers, many South Korean news outlets have reported
that it was a worker at a shop where Joon-young sent his smartphone in hopes of retrieving
lost data.
As a result, Choi Jong Hoon and Jung Joon-young were sentenced to prison for raping, and as
Jung Joon-young was also convicted of making videos of the assaults and sharing them with
friends online, he had to serve six years in jail because of this aggravating factor.
Since Jong Hoon was involved in inappropriate sensual activities only, he served one fewer
years behind the bars compared to his friend.
In the final court, Judge Kang Seong-soo said in his verdict that since “The offenders
perpetrated sexual crimes against multiple women, treated them as mere tools of sexual
pleasure,” and “It’s hard to fathom the pain the victims must have​ suffered,”
no mercy was made for the pair.
While both of them broke into tears when being escorted back to jail, everyone believed that
such prison terms were still too short to punish the filthy actions of Jong Hoon and
Joon-young.
Moreover, since the two even acted as if life was being unfair after the sentence was made,
it’s quite understandable to see how people kept demanding their terms to be increased.
After the sex scandal broke out, many netizens shivered when recalling Joon Young's vulgar
actions towards women in the past.
Back in 2016, Twice participated in 1 Night 2 Days as a guest and Jung Joon Young was
an official member of the show.
When Jeong Yeon fed the guy as a part of a game, Joon Young stared at the female idol
in a very creepy way, to the point other members found it way too weird and said: Joon Young
seems to enjoy this too much.
Some viewers said that they felt goosebumps all over their bodies when speculating on
the male idol's mind at that moment.
Not only that, Joon Young even suggested: Please say “Ah” when you feed me.
His action is exactly the same as the way to treat girls at bars and clubs.
Besides, Jeong Yeon and Joon Young were not close, so the guy's joke was harshly criticized
for going too far.
Joon Young also used to be a DJ for a radio channel called "Shim Shim Ta Pa" for a long
time.
He collaborated many times with female idols when they came as guests.
During one recording session, Joon Young suddenly approached Ryu Sujeong (Lovelyz) and started
taking photos of the female idol while she was passionately singing.
Sujeong then noticed Joon Young’s actions, she expressed her reluctance to be photographed
by covering her face with her hand.
When Joon Young found himself in the camera, he immediately pushed back to avoid being
filmed.
It seems that he was so used to this and pulled the act as a habit.
Many believed that the photos were definitely shared on some private chat groups.
They commented:
- He will probably send the photos to some chat groups and be like: "Hey, this one looks
fine?”
- It’s really annoying.
Sujeong kept covering her face and telling him not to take pictures but he didn’t stop.
Netizens also see these as early manifestations of him becoming a sex offender later on.
Despite having all the fame and money, for some reason, male idols in KPOP are quite
often involved in cases.
And Park YooChun, former member of DBSK and JYJ was no exception.
When the idol was at the peak of his career in 2015, he got called to military training
and thus, had to haul all promotional activities.
Seemingly he would soon return safe and sound after two years of serving, a series of problems
started to come at him like a storm and changed his whole life for the worse.
In 2016, four females simultaneously accused him of sexually assaulting them.
Of course, the public and especially his fans failed hard because as a superstar and a soldier
himself, doing that nasty thing was completely unacceptable.
Responding to such accusations, his contemporary management company denied everything and said
that they would let the legal forces give the final answer.
Fast forward to 2017, despite being declared innocent in all cases, Yoochun couldn’t
return to the entertainment industry due to the deterioration in image and reputation.
However, bad things have yet to end anywhere soon.
Even when he was lucky enough to get away with one of the most notorious scandals of
all time, he was soon canceled by his fiancée.
After that assault story came quiet for a while, one year after that, Yoochun informed
that he would get married to Hwang Hana—the granddaughter of the famous dairy corporation
Namyang.
However, due to various problems, the couple continuously put off their wedding day and
eventually ended up splitting ways in 2018.
Fast forward to April 2019, Hwang Hana was arrested for distributing and using illegal
substances.
Under the fierce investigation of the police, she soon exposed her partner to crime.
And as you can guess, that was Park Yoochun.
Initially, he vehemently denied the drug allegation in a press conference in April, saying, "[The
allegation] is something that contradicts my whole life, even going beyond the matter
of quitting my career and retiring."
Despite his contention of innocence, C-JeS Entertainment expelled him the same month
after police filed a warrant for his arrest.
After getting the test by the police, he was announced positive for illegal substances
and as a shameful result, he declared his withdrawal from the entertainment industry
for good around the same time.
Since many news outlets started to expose the videos recording him smoking illegal substances,
Yoochun’s contemporary management agency came to the decision to terminate their contract
with him.
Three months after the arrest of Park Yoochun and Hwang Hana, in July 2019, Yoochun was
sentenced to ten-month prison term, two years’ probation and a fine of 1,4 million won on
drug charges.
Oddly enough, just one year after that incident, Park Yoochun turned over his retirement pledge.
He made the whole netizen shook by announcing to host a fanmeeting event in Bangkok in January
2020 with the price of 5.000 baht per ticket (about $160), which caused huge controversies:
Then, Yoochun officially opened a website for fans, Blue Cielo, at the end of April
2020 and a new Instagram account.
He even went overboard when informing that the publication of a special photobook “Someday”
and an autograph signing event with fans were under preparation.
Not to everyone’s surprise, his actions raised the ire of Korean netizens since Korea
is a country where tight work ethics are codes of conduct required for all celebrities.
They harshly criticized the male idol:
Didn't he himself say that he would leave the entertainment industry if convicted of
actually using drugs?
He's the worst liar I've ever seen.
Why does he sing TVXQ's song in the fanmeeting?
Is he not ashamed of Yunho and Changmin?
So, do you think those idols who have committed crimes deserve a second chance or they should
be kicked out of the entertainment industry forever?