Seungri, Jung Joon-young return home after questioning over sex scandals

Two prominent South Korean singers returned home Friday after marathon interrogations by police over allegations of sexual misdeeds.

Seungri, a member of K-pop boy band BIGBANG, left the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency at about 6:15 a.m., following 16 hours of questioning over suspicion that he arranged prostitution for prospective business investors.

The 29-year-old singer, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, said he will postpone his military service to undergo the investigation.

“I am putting in a request for the conscription delay today. If I’m allowed, I want to fulfill my responsibility in cooperating with the investigation,” he said. Lee had planned to begin the mandatory military service later this month.

He is also being investigated in connection with a nightclub, Burning Sun, of which he was an executive. Police are looking into allegations of drugs, rape, tax evasion and cozy ties with law enforcement surrounding the club.

BIGBANG’s Seungri pushes through a swarm of reporters at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on March 15, 2019, after being grilled by police for 16 hours over alleged sex tapes and illegal activities at a nightclub. (Yonhap)

He is accused of taking covert videos of women he slept with without their consent and sharing the footage with his friends, including Seungri, in a KakaoTalk chat room.

“I earnestly and truthfully answered during the questioning, and I also handed in the ‘golden phone.’ I am truly sorry for causing trouble,” he said, before quickly getting into a van.

The “golden phone” refers to Jung’s second mobile phone that was brought up by rapper Zico in a talk show in 2016. Local media seized on the past episode after the scandal broke, suggesting that the phone could be where Jung kept all the videos and that Zico may have even seen them. The rapper has denied the speculation.

elly@yna.co.kr