K-Pop Fans Shocked After Jung Joon-young Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison Amid Sexual Assault Charges

Several South Korean singers are currently facing public scrutiny following charges about their alleged participation in an aggravated rape back in 2016. They retired from the entertainment industry following the scandal and have now received prison sentences in relation to sexual assault charges.

Korean singer and song writer Jung Joon-young has been sentenced to six years in prison on charges of alleged collective sexual assault, the illegal recording and distribution of sexual materials through an online platform, the Seoul Central District Court said. Another K-pop star Choi Jong-hoon, the former leader of the band F.T. Island, has been sentenced to five years in prison for participating and spreading illegal footage of an alleged gang rape.

The singers were on trial for the gang rape of intoxicated women in a hotel room back in March 2016, with Jung Joon-young admitting to sexual intercourse but said it was consensual. Choi Jong-hoon also refuted raping the women, stating that he did not remember a sexual encounter taking place, but insisted that if it had taken place it was consensual. Both K-pop stars pleaded not guilty, but were accused of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, aggravated by their participation in the online chatroom KakaoTalk, where the secret sex tapes were shared. 

“The defendants are well-known celebrities and friends, but the chat they've had showed that they simply considered the women as objects of sexual pleasure, and committed crimes that were extremely serious”, Judge Kang Seong-soo said following the verdict, as cited by Channel News Asia.

The singers, who now retired from the industry following the sexual assault scandal, have also been ordered to complete 80 hours of sexual violence treatment and been banned from working in youth-related facilities for five years.

K-pop fans were shocked by the news, but some netizens insisted that the prison sentences appeared to be too “soft”.

30-year-old Jung Joon-young was also accused of distributing illegal sexual footage in a chatroom 11 times, which he admitted to but argued that the sex was consensual in all the aforementioned cases. The singer issued a public apology and retired from the entertainment industry following his confession.