https://static.businessinsider.sg/2020/01/01/5e343db4ab49fd7b0a466475.png
Seungri, then a member of the K-pop band Big Bang, on stage with the group.Visual China Group via Getty Images/Visual China Group via Getty Images

Massively popular K-pop artist Seungri has been indicted on charges of prostitution and gambling, Business Insider - Business Insider Singapore

by

The K-pop artist Seungri, once a darling of the genre and one of its megastars, has been indicted on charges including prostitution and habitual gambling.

Twenty-nine-year-old Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, was a member of the K-pop band Big Bang until March 2019. But he resigned from the group – and to the best of his ability – from the public eye, when an investigation was launched against him on suspicion of violating prostitution law.

An official with the central prosecutor’s office in Seoul, Korea, confirmed on Thursday that Lee was indicted for organizing prostitutes, habitual gambling, and trading illegal foreign currency, CNN reported.

In early 2019, reports emerged that Seungri had been in a messaging groupchat with other K-pop stars, all men, who appear to share videos of themselves engaging in sex acts with women. The recordings were reportedly made without the women’s knowledge or consent.

“I think I’d better leave the entertainment industry at the moment,” Lee wrote on Instagram last year as he announced his departure from Big Bang. “I just cannot bear causing any further damage to people around me while being hated and criticized by the public and being treated as a nation’s enemy during the investigation.”

“I’m truly grateful for all my fans in Korea and in the world for showing much love for the past 10 years,” he said on social media at the time. “I feel that I need to end it here for the reputation of YG and Big Bang.”

As a member of Big Bang, Seungri was signed by the record label YG. When he announced he was leaving the group, the label’s stock plummeted as much as 14%, according to Bloomberg. Other labels with high-profile K-pop artists suffered dips in their stock prices, too.

Seungri’s turn from cherished pop star to disgraced public figure may have begun in connection with a nightclub whose board he sat on and which he frequented.

The Burning Sun, a club in Seoul’s Gagnam district, faced a series of accusations that it was a site for drug distribution, prostitution, and police corruption, among other illegal activities.

Jenna Gibson, an expert on Korea at the University of Chicago, said the allegations against Lee were unprecedented in the world of K-pop.

“This level of scandal goes beyond anything we’ve seen in recent memory,” Gibson told CNN as news of the investigation first emerged.

K-pop artists are expected by the industry and fans alike to maintain a polished image, CedarBough Saeji, an expert on Korean culture who was then at the University of British Columbia, told CNN.

“Their every public moment is a product to be consumed as representative of the nation, representative of ideal behavior, and representative of performative talent,” Saeji said.

This is not the first incident to reveal the darker side of K-pop.

In a shocking but unsurprising trend, aspiring K-pop artists – typically young women – report being propositioned or harassed by executives and other industry giants, who are typically men.

“Sponsorship or transactional sex between influential entertainment executives and aspiring celebrities is a thinly veiled, often accepted part of the industry,” according to Seoulbeat, a Korean entertainment website.