Yunho was reportedly caught at illegal “adult entertainment establishment” with friends, SME responds

When the story about his COVID-19 curfew violation broke, nobody seemed to give TVXQ’s Yunho too much shit for it, especially given his immediate apology. It’s understandable, part of the luxuries afforded to a celeb who has kept his nose clean for two decades.

Turns out that the devil was in the details, as he reportedly was not simply eating with friends at a restaurant, but was at an illegally-run adult entertainment bar and his friends allegedly were fighting police.

According to an exclusive report from MBC, Yunho was one of at least five people in an adult entertainment establishment drinking after 10 pm KST, the latest all restaurants and bars are allowed to be open. When police entered the commercial building in Cheongdam-dong after 10 pm, a fight broke out between the police and Yunho’s acquaintances, and it is believed that they were attempting to stall time for Yunho to escape. The police are currently considering whether to charge the individuals involved with obstruction of justice. At the commercial building, there is no placard identifying the business operating on the fourth floor, and the windows are opaque so outsiders cannot see in. MBC entered the business, and saw a long hallway, with several rooms flanking the hallway. Several women and other employees were seen walking around the business. Visitors were not allowed to enter the business unless they had a prior reservation. The business was registered with the Gangnam-gu office as a general restaurant, however they were illegally operating as an adult entertainment establishment. Yunho was here drinking with three acquaintances and one of the venue’s female employees until midnight, two hours past the social distancing rules’ curfew. However, it is not known exactly how many other employees were present in the venue. When police arrived at the location around midnight, Yunho’s acquaintances fought with police in an attempt to help Yunho escape. As the fight intensified, the police threatened to handcuff Yunho’s acquaintances.

While these media reports are sometimes unclear, it certainly sounds like it was less some random bar, and more of an underground room salon from the description. That would certainly provide a much worse look for Yunho.

SM Entertainment has responded to the report, disputing some facts.

This is SM Entertainment.
There was a report with false information today related to Yunho, and so we are sharing our statement.
It was clearly wrong for Yunho to have not abided by the social distancing regulations, and he is also personally deeply reflecting. However, he did not do anything wrong other than violating the social distancing regulations.
All Yunho did was go to the location that his friend told him to come to after his friend contacted him to say that he wanted to talk about a concern. It was his first time going to that place.
Also, the only people that Yunho spent time with there were his friends. It is not at all true that there was a female employee sitting with them. At the time of the police’s arrival, there were only managers there to handle the payment, and there was not a female employee.
In addition, it is not at all true that Yunho tried to flee when the police arrived. Instead, he earnestly cooperated with the police and the public officials in the performance of their official duties, and so after he immediately confirmed his identity on the scene, he was sent home. As there were suddenly more than 10 plain clothes police officers coming in, some of his friends were taken aback and protested, unaware that they were police officers. However, this was something completely unrelated to Yunho.
It is deeply regrettable that a false report was made without the facts being properly confirmed.
Criticism and punishment will be accepted for the wrongdoing, but we implore you to refrain from groundless speculation.

Essentially they are saying the confrontation with police was a non-issue, which does seem to be backed by the fact that no further action seems imminent. But I honestly don’t care about the police thing, cause more importantly they certainly are adamant about there being no “female employees” around, so yeah, it sounds like a room salon to me along with damage control. That’s a bigger problem for his squeaky clean image.

I suppose one can believe SME if they want and think it was all innocent, but there’s a limit to how much benefit of the doubt even Yunho can get.