Former K-pop sensation Jung Joon-young was released from prison on Tuesday after serving a five-year sentence for his involvement in a high-profile spycam scandal, marking one of South Korea’s most notable cases.
Jung was convicted of gang rape in two separate incidents in 2016, as well as secretly filming himself engaging in sexual acts with women without their consent and distributing the footage without their knowledge.
The scandal, commonly referred to as “molka” in Korean, involves the clandestine recording of women in various settings, including schools and bathrooms, along with covertly filmed consensual sexual encounters.
Jung’s case was part of a string of sex scandals involving male celebrities that surfaced amid South Korea’s #MeToo movement, which gained momentum in 2018 with mass protests in Seoul, where women demanded an end to the objectification of their lives.
Another prominent figure embroiled in the scandal was Seungri, a former member of the popular boyband BIGBANG, who was found to have received Jung’s illicit videos. Seungri was subsequently convicted on multiple charges related to a sex and drugs scandal at his nightclub, “Burning Sun.”
Exiting the prison facility in Mokpo, located approximately 350 kilometers (218 miles) south of Seoul, Jung, 35, chose not to address the awaiting press, sporting a black hat and mask, according to reports from News1 agency.
Jung initially rose to fame in 2012 after finishing third on the audition show “Super Star K” and achieving success with several solo hits. However, his career came to an abrupt halt in 2019 when the spycam scandal came to light, prompting his retirement from the entertainment industry.
Despite his acknowledgement of wrongdoing, including crimes beyond the initial accusations of rape, the repercussions of the scandal extended tragically beyond Jung’s case. Former girl group Kara member Goo Hara took her own life in 2019 after being threatened with the release of explicit images by an ex-boyfriend.
Meanwhile, South Korean footballer Hwang Ui-jo, currently on loan from Nottingham Forest to Turkish club Alanyaspor, is under investigation for allegedly filming sexual encounters without consent, a claim he vehemently denies.
