Article: First victim, "I was gang r*ped en masse by 5 members of Jung Joon Young's 'tokbang'."
Source: SBS Fun E via Nate
A woman alleges that she was gang r*ped by 5 people from Jung Joon Young's chatroom.
The victim said she belatedly confirmed that she had been gang r*ped by five people, including Jung Joon Young and former F.T. Island member Choi Jonghun through voice files, photos, and conversations that circulated in the chatroom and decided to file a complaint with the police after consulting with her lawyer.
[WARNING: This interview includes discussions of sexual assault]
Police said they will launch a full-scale investigation into the alleged sexual assault by Jung Joon Young as the victims of the illegal filming in the 'tokbang' have not been specified.
The woman said she lost her memory after drinking with Jung and Choi, a Burning Sun employee surnamed Kim, a former employee of YG Entertainment Heo, and a businessman surnamed Park around the time of Jung Joon Young's fan signing in March 2016. She said she woke up in a hotel bed the next morning naked and Choi Jonghun was next to her. Jonghun then teased her saying, "Are you looking for your underwear? Let's have sex again." She was so embarrassed so she left the hotel without knowing what had happened. But after the recent news in the media about the 'tokbang' chats, she suspected she might have been sexually assaulted and began to investigate the truth.
Last month, she reached out to lawyer Bang Junghyun, a whistleblower working in the public interest in the 'tokbang' case and sent him an email and said, "I'm sending you an email courageously like this because I'm worried if the woman in the chat room isn't me," she said. She told the lawyer about the specific date and place of the incident and was able to confirm through the lawyer that one voice file and 6 photos of the incident at that time existed in the chatroom. The voice file contains a recording of an alleged sexual assault and some of the photos show a group sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.
In addition, there's a conversation the next day by 5 people, including Jung Joon Young and Choi Jonghun where they discuss how they sexually assaulted a woman en masse. Jung used a slang word meaning "gang r*pe". There's even footage of Choi Jonghun trying to hold back his laughter as he/they raped the unconscious woman.
After checking the video, pictures, and katalk contents of the chatroom, she agonized for a month and in the end decided to sue the 5 men. 'A' said she was embarrassed about the incident at the time and was unable to grasp the situation. They even contacted her again later, indifferent, like nothing happened, saying there was no rape or illegal filming that happened.
When asked about the arguments of “A,” businessman “Park” said that he has “nothing to do with the case” and strongly denied accusations of participating in the gang rape. “Heo” also did not respond, and Choi Jong Hoon and Jung Joon Young were unreachable because their phones had been turned off as both have been indicted and sent to prosecution for the hidden camera charges.
Below is the full interview by SBS Fun E with the victim on the allegations.
*****WARNING: Graphic details of the sexual assault*****
Q. What is your relationship with the five members?
“I got to know Jung Joon Young in 2012 through an acquaintance, and I’ve known ‘Kim’ since 2013. One of my friends was dating Seungri at the time, so we used to hang out as a group. In early 2016, Jung Joon Young called me to grab a drink for the first time in a while, as he was hosting a fan signing event. The five members of the group chatroom and I, a total of six people, had drinks in three different locations. I was a bit drunk, but there were two more celebrities, and since I had known them for a few years, I let my guard down. They told me they booked a suite at a hotel and wanted to drink more there, but as soon as I drank alcohol [at the hotel], I lost consciousness.”
Q. What was going on when you woke up?
“I woke up because my head was hurting. My clothes were off, and Choi Jong Hoon was lying next to me, laughing. Since I did not have any clothes on, I asked them, ‘What is going on?’ They said, ‘You don’t remember?’ and chuckled. They came close to me while I was fully naked and teased me by saying, ‘Try looking for your underwear.’ ‘Heo’ even poked me around while jokingly suggesting that we should have sexual intercourse. When I told them to stop, they gave me back my underwear. I found my clothes, got dressed, and got out of the hotel. That’s what I remember from that day.”
Q. Were you not suspicious of getting sexually assaulted at the time?
“I do not remember anything after I lost consciousness after drinking at the hotel. I was taking pills for a panic disorder, so I loosely thought that might have been [the reason I passed out]. The back of my head was swollen as if I had hit [my head] against something. When I woke up fully naked in the morning, I felt shameful, but I wasn’t aware of what was going on, and I couldn’t ask. After I got out of the hotel, Jung Joon Young, Choi Jong Hoon, and ‘Kim’ contacted me as if nothing happened. Choi Jong Hoon even said, ‘See you later.’ It was hard for me to rashly ask them.”
Q. Did you contact them following reports of the group chat rooms?
“I contacted Choi Jong Hoon and ‘Kim.’ When I asked, ‘Did you film hidden camera footage of me?’ they said they absolutely did not. They told me, ‘We didn’t even talk about you [in the chatrooms], please believe us.’ They even said, ‘Do not worry. Let’s meet up.’ I realized that it would be difficult to expect a sincere apology from them or for them to reflect on themselves.”
Q. What made you decide to sue them?
“It’s painful every time I think about that day. Because it is embarrassing and it pains me, I deliberately tried to not talk about what happened that day. After I saw reports about the group chat rooms, I realized that even though I considered them as my close friends, it wasn’t the same for them. I can’t help but to think that they simply treated me like an object. I was ashamed. I hope they pay for their crimes.”
Q. How do you feel now that you are about to file a lawsuit?
“I’m worried that I might encounter retaliation or if the police will even carry out a proper investigation. The police stated that they have investigated the group chat rooms, but I have never been contacted by the police. I don’t know what will happen to me if [the five members] say they did no such thing. I’m scared that my identity will be exposed and that people will know that I was victimized.”