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Burning Sun scandal: Ex-BIGBANG member Seungri pleads innocence, prosecutors seek 5 years jail

The prosecution asked for 5 years sentence regarding the former BIGBANG member, but Seungri gave a new statement saying he is innocent

Back in 2019, when the Burning Sun scandal became a global issue, Seungri, a K-pop idol and former member of the group BIGBANG was revealed to be involved in a number of illegal activities. On July 1, 2021, he was indicted on nine different charges from embezzlement to prostitution. The allegations led to the public completely turning their back on the retired idol. While Seungri had apologized for the part he played in the scandal back in 2019, he took a completely different stance on his most recent court hearing.

Seungri has now denied all eight charges, except for the charge of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. Regarding prostitution, the former BIGBANG member claimed that his phone had autocorrected his chat message and that he had not meant to tell any of the businessmen to sleep with any of the women present. However, Dispatch got a hold of the entire chat from the Kakao chat room and pointed out that the word “prostitute” was mentioned in the chat by another man and Seungri did not say anything to clarify that he had made a mistake in typing. However, Seungri stated that not everything said on the group chat equaled actual action. His statement led to further curiosity. 

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Is Seungri innocent?

Fans went through Seungri's statement and noticed that he said he was going to be arrested no matter what and a lawyer had told him to confess to everything. People following the case also noticed that the witness had reportedly alleged that the police manipulated the witnesses at the scene. Seungri also said that he was being thrown under the bus by those involved because he was popular and so would deflect the attention from those truly guilty.

Despite this, the military prosecution is seeking a five-year jail sentence but there has been no final verdict yet. People online are torn as they don’t know what to believe anymore. While Seungri didn't accept the charges, public opinion turned against him because of the prostitution allegations. With him currently denying it and literally crying in the court that he left his group to protect them, netizens are left debating on the matter. 

In spite of this new angle, some still believe that Seungri should pay for his actions as one tweeted, “seungri jail party as he should.” Another tweeted, “seungri stans still delulu.” One Twitter user said, “uhhh seungri is a criminal anyways.” 

However, fans rallied behind him as one said, “THE CULPRIT : SEUNGRI IS NOT INVOLVED THE PROSTITUTES : SEUNGRI IS NOT INVOLVED THE WITNESSES : SEUNGRI IS NOT INVOLVED.” Another heartbroken fan said, “In the end, during his final pleading, Seungri shed tears, saying, "I promise to be reborn. I'm sorry to my colleagues, former agency officials, and my family who had to spend a difficult time together because of me." Another fan tweeted, “they did admit it, that they arrested Seungri because of the public's opinion, they sacrificed a victim to lessen their own burden, they never cared for justice.”

Seungri was a businessman who co-owned Burning Sun, a nightclub. The club was embroiled in a rape and spycam scandal in 2019 and it also involved a number of Korean entertainment industry's biggest names. There have been nine criminal activities that Seungri was supposedly involved in including gambling, fraud, drug use and promoting prostitution. Previously, the people involved said that Seungri was the one to bring girls and asked the men to sleep with them. However, on July 1, he stated at the court that he had not done that. The police who arrived at the scene allegedly bullied him and a lawyer who was under the payroll of the businessmen said that he should confess to everything. This was all in 2019.

On July 1, he said that he went through the witness statements and claimed that most of what was said was false and is now pleading innocence. The prosecution thinks that he is guilty and are asking for a five-year sentence for him. The final verdict hasn't been given yet.

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