Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
While the hidden camera scandal is definitely major news, so is the police corruption angle to this whole mess. In addition to the alleged Choi Jong Hoon cover up, the mentioning of Mr. Yoo knowing a ‘police chief’ that could help them, and the subsequent identification of a senior superintendent that Mr. Yoo was connected to, if we go back a bit there was also a report of a former police officer taking money from the Burning Sun CEO that was allegedly used to bribe Gangnam police officers. Well now things have continued to deepen, as the former police officer has been arrested on bribery charges.
Around 9:19 pm KST on March 15, judge Song Kyung Ho of the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for Kang. Kang is accused of accepting money in exchange for blocking the investigation on underage admittance at the Burning Sun club last year. Currently, Kang is an executive of a cosmetics company and is suspected of playing a role in the police department’s relationship with the club. During his time as a police officer, he served at the Gangnam Police Station. In July 2018, the cosmetic company held a grand scale promotion event at Burning Sun. Around the time of the event, Burning Sun was reported to the police after underaged customers were seen drinking expensive alcohol in the club. During recent police questioning, CEO Lee of Burning Sun confessed he paid 20 million KRW (18,000 USD) to Kang to settle the investigation on the underaged admittance.
Hilariously, the CEO admitted he gave the money to Mr. Kang but said he didn’t know it was for police bribes. God knows what he will claim he thought it was for.
The police corruption angle, especially regarding Gangnam police, at least seems to be quite obvious.
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There are similar questions being asked of police in the hidden camera scandal, as police only just raided Jung Joon Young‘s home.
Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Provincial Special Detective Division received search and seizure warrants to investigate Jung Joon Young’s and Mr. Kim’s houses. Mr. Kim is a Burning Sun employee who was in a chatroom where illegal hidden camera photos and videos were shared amongst Seungri, Jung Joon Young, and more. It was also reported that Mr. Kim set up the cameras. The police began searching their homes around 2 p.m. KST. This follows the 21-hour questioning of Jung Joon Young at the police station. During the investigation, Jung Joon Young submitted three cell phones. These cell phones are currently undergoing a mobile forensics process. However, due to the possibility of having old phones saved as unused phones, a search and seizure warrant was carried out. Furthermore, the police have relayed that an arrest warrant will be requested soon.
Right, but given that he was provided time to potentially delete evidence or intimidate witnesses or whatever else, it seems weird that they didn’t do this immediately upon his arrival, But police say they allowed it because he promised or something.
Many questioned why the singer was not immediately arrested at the airport. The police also did not receive search and seizure warrants until the 15th. With rumors on police ties to Seungri and Jung’s cases, many accused the police of allowing Jung the time to destroy evidence. In regards to the accusations, the police explained they did not immediately arrest Jung because he already expressed the desires for “voluntary attendance.”
It’s rather comical that they allowed both him and Seungri so much time to do whatever they wanted because basically well hey the alleged criminals promised they would help police out.
As mentioned, Jung Joon Young reportedly turned in three cell phones, but it was reported that one of them was only two weeks old, which likely lead to the search. Additionally, while it was reported that Seungri didn’t submit his phone during investigations, he told reporters that he did.
We’ll find out over time what’s what, but what’s clear is that there’s major questions about the police investigation, and most Koreans fear that this will go like how they’ve seen before in terms of major scandals that are bungled by police either for reasons of incompetence or corruption.
But hey, don’t just take my word for it.
