The Western perspective of Burning Sun relies heavily on English-source, Western News outlets who reported on the scandal. While otherwise credible outlets, it’s important to understand that these sources are still subject to engaging in misinformation due to mistranslations and information accessibility. Remembering that major Korean outlets, such as MBC and SBS, were the sources for most major misinformation coming out about the case; With these outlets being Western media’s primary sources for understanding the case, it is subsequent that Western media would then report misinformation. It is important to understand that not all misinformation spread is a purposeful result of having an agenda and, in the case of Western media, it is unlikely that any news outlet was invested in the scandal’s outcome to have any sort of agenda with the type of news they reported on. They had access to the major Korean news outlets, it was just an unfortunate fact that those Korean news outlets were not engaging in ethical journalism.
Furthermore, a common issue I’ve noticed with Western media who reported on the scandal—Seungri, in particular—is one major mistranslation. While Seungri’s official charges included this exact legal language: “Violation of the Act on the Punishment of Commercial Sex Acts” (which is legally defined as any person engaging in sex work and is a separate charge from the Act on Prevention of Human Trafficking and Protection of Victims—the charge specifically defining forced “sex work”), most Western outlets—if not all—translated this specific legal term as “sex trafficking”.
While “sex trafficking” does technically encompass sex work in the coloquial sense, the legal definition does not include persons who engage in sex work consensually. Non-consensual commercial sex acts specifically fall under the Act on Prevention of Human Trafficking and Protection of Victims, which Seungri was not charged with. In Seungri’s case, the prostitutes related to Seungri’s charges were identified as established and willing employees of [a] salon room[s]—a specific type of Korean adult entertainment establishment. Seungri did not own the salon room[s] and he was not the prostitutes’ employer. He was a customer (often referred to as ‘client’ or ‘John’).
Due to this discrepancy in reporting and due to other, smaller Western outlets such as Koreaboo reporting on MBC’s human trafficking allegations against Burning Sun (and not on the police investigation’s conclusive statement about the lack thereof), Western audiences quickly solidified a specific, false understanding of the case’s events. Specifically, Western audiences wholeheartedly believe that Burning Sun was definitively proven to have been operating a human trafficking ring in which Seungri, his friends, and VIP guests were drugging, raping, and filming unsuspecting women, which they would then share and circulate in a company group chat. Not only is this narrative verifiably false but it also blurs the line between three separate cases.
Nevertheless, it has led to Western audiences conflating and drawing comparisons between Burning Sun and famous Western cases, such as Epstein’s human trafficking organization and P-Diddy’s sexual assault case. This has happened to the degree of which many people lightheartedly refer to Seungri as “The Korean Epstein” and/or “K-Diddy” (Korean-Diddy). Not only are these comparisons flagrantly inaccurate but they can also be considered extremely insulting to the victims on both sides of the coin.
For the victims of Epstein and Diddy, their trauma is being co-opted to be compared to a case that revolves around consensual sex work. The Epstein victims already spent years being accused of being prostitutes, the continued comparison is nothing if not re-traumatizing.
And, for the victims of Burning Sun, their traumas are being stolen and filtered through a Western lens; Functionally saying “your story, alone, was not shocking enough, horrifying enough, or significant enough to be understood on its own and must be viewed through a more legitimate, Western comparison”. It is abhorrently xenophobic and colonistic.
As it stands, the Western lens for Burning Sun is deeply guilty for engaging with and perpetuating misinformation around the case. While it is not necessarily the faults of Western audiences, their xenophobic response to the misinformation is representative of something they are still accountable for. They willingly accepted English-source news reporting as legitimate enough without putting forth critical thought or it occurring to them to seek out the primary Korean sources for more information and more context. As it stands, very few members of the Western audience seek out Korean-source news articles and appear to rely entirely on major Western news outlets and archival websites, such as Wikipedia and CNN, as well as illegitimate reporters such as the RottenMango and BuzzfeedNetwork YouTube channels.
The Western lens will never be corrected so long as audiences continue to accept subpar reporting as infallible.
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