The Victims

Throughout the course of the Burning Sun Scandal, only a small amount of victims came forward to tell their stories. The reason there were so few accounts is analyzed here. This page serves to compile what victim statements are publicly available.

The Kim Sangkyo Victims

Three women reported Kim Sangkyo for sexual harassment and assaults that took place at the Burning Sun nightclub. Only one of the three women were identified, the one being a woman known as Anna/Aenna, who was later identified as a drug dealer who frequented Burning Sun to sell her products.

A news broadcast about Anna can be found here.

CCTV footage of Kim assaulting Anna can be found here.

The Burning Sun Staff Victim

On January 9th, Kim Sangkyo shared a victim’s story, which was told to him via Instagram DMs. Her story is;

“I reported being sexually harassed by an employee (MD) at Burning Sun around 6:00 to 6:30 AM on December 30, 2018. He attempted to touch my chest, waist, and buttocks, and put his hand in my front pocket to try and touch my genitals. When I tried to go to the restroom to escape the situation, he grabbed me at the entrance, held me tight, and refused to let go, saying he would let me go if I kissed him. I wanted to get away from him and just lightly touch his lips before leaving, but he tried to force a kiss, so I struggled to break free and ran to the restroom. When other close employees heard about it and tried to bring him over to apologize to me, the employee who sexually harassed me claimed he had only touched my waist a couple of times. At that time, I clearly heard from a security guard that CCTV footage would be secured, so I filed a report. When I asked to receive the CCTV footage in advance, he reassured me, saying that since the CCTV cannot be tampered with, there is no chance of it being deleted. However, when the police went to secure the CCTV footage during the second week of January, a weekday when Burning Sun was closed, they were not given the video. They told me that since footage is stored for two weeks, it would be there until the 14th, and insisted I come back on Thursday the 10th. So, when the police went back on the 10th, the video had been deleted!! Also, at the Yeoksam Police Substation where I went on the day I filed the report, they should have told me not to wash the clothes I was wearing when I was sexually harassed and to keep them as evidence, but because I did not receive that advice, later, after the case was filed and [they went to] the Gangnam Police Station to give a statement after the case was registered.”

Lee MinJeong [Pseudonym]

Ms. Lee has given interviews with both MBC and BBC [29:15] to accuse Thai socialite and entrepreneur, Chavanos Rattakul, of sexually assaulting her. Ms. Lee’s story is that she met Rattakul at Burning Sun and drank 3-4 shots with him before suddenly blacking out. After waking in a hotel bed, she claims Rattakul violently sexually assaulted her, choked her, and slammed her head against the bed to get her to comply. Afterwards, he forced her to smile for a selfie which he later showed to police to prove the sex was consensual. It seems the photo did not show any signs of the alleged physical altercation, as police did not question her condition and accepted the photo as proof.

Rattakul later appeared on the local Thai news to explain that the charges against him were not pursued after hotel CCTV footage [8:36] showed Ms. Lee walking into the hotel with him. She did not appear to be intoxicated or in duress. MBC later released an article claiming that this behavior is possible under the effects of GHB, however, this is not conducive with what major medical research organizations such as Stanford University and HealthDirect have reported. According to GHB studies, GHB slows your nervous system and results in sluggish and/or uncontrollable motor movements.

Choi Jonghoon’s victims

On April 10th, 2019, it was reported that Choi Jonghoon had been accused of drugging and raping a woman in America in 2012. The victim identified as woman “A” claims that she drank a cocktail with Choi that she suspected had been spiked with GHB. “A” revealed that she is in the process of filing a formal case against Choi Jonghoon through her legal representative, and decided to build up the courage to file the case after seeing the recent incidences of illegal hidden camera videos being distributed in Seungri and Jung Joon Young’s chatrooms. She is planning on filing the complaint within the month of April. It is unclear what the results of this report were as there were no further public updates.

Choi was also accused of participating in the gangrapes of two different women in 2016, after a campaign event in Daegu and another event in Hongcheon. Choi received five years in prison, however, after settling with one old his victims, his sentence was reduced to 2.5 years.

Jung Joonyoung’s Victims

Jung Joonyoung has the same two rape victims as Choi Jonghoon, as he was present for both gangrapes. It was reported that both men later messaged about the incident in a group chat, laughing about one of the women falling and hitting her head. Jung received six years in prison for his participation in the gangrapes, as well as for his distribution of molka—for which he is reported to have had fourteen victims. Jung’s victims also include his ex-girlfriend, who he filmed molka of in 2016. In 2019, she filed a Blue House petition for protection against Jung Joonyoung. Unfortunately, the petition ultimately did not receive enough signatures.

The SBS “Unanswered Questions” Reports

The SBS Broadcast “Unanswered Questions” claims to have received over 350 reports about Burning Sun through their anonymous hotline. The article does not specify how many of these reports were specifically sexual assault victims but it does say the tips included stories from victims who had reported assault to the police, who did nothing about the reports.

Kang Kyungyoon’s Victims

In October 2023, Attorney Kim arose concerns about Kang Kyungyoon’s handling of sensitive information. Kim stated that that he received a phone call from the younger sister of one of Jung’s molka victims, saying ‘It seems that a person named SBS reporter Kang Kyungyoon received obscene messages and videos on KakaoTalk from a forensic expert and keeps circulating them. My sister had to quit her job, keeps moving around, and is going to the hospital. I don’t know how long she has to suffer like this’. It seems that Kang willfully distributed the contents of Jung’s Golden phone to other reporters who were then mocking the victims in a group chat. It is also suspected by some people that this was the source of the leak that led to the molka videos being airdropped around Korea.