5 Of The Worst Crimes Committed By Idols’ Family Members
Content Warning
Fame can bring wealth and acclaim but also scrutiny, gossip, and a lack of privacy, even during the most difficult moments in a celebrity’s life. Some idols, through no fault of their own, have suffered as a result of crimes committed by their own family members.
1. Super Junior Leeteuk’s father
On January 6, 2014, Leeteuk’s father and grandparents were found dead in their residency. Police reports confirmed that all three had died in a murder-suicide committed by Leeteuk’s father, Park Yong In.
Park, who had struggled with depression and debt, strangled his parents–both of whom had dementia–before hanging himself. According to the police, Leeteuk’s father had planned to admit his parents to a nursing home but changed his mind. While making a speech at a high school in the town of Kyungjoo titled, “There is no hope without despair,” Leeteuk revealed his father’s last, spiteful words to him; “Do you truly believe you achieved success all by yourself?”
2. Girls’ Generation Yuri’s brother
In 2019, the Burning Sun sex scandal made international headlines and rocked the Korean entertainment world. One of the criminals involved was the older brother of Girls’ Generation’s Yuri, Kwon Hyuk Jun.
Kwon, Jung Joon Young, Choi Jonghoon, Burning Sun employee “Kim,” and former entertainment agency employee “Heo” were accused of gang rape and filming and distribution of sex videos. In November 2019, Kwon was found guilty of participating in sexual assault and illegal chatroom activities. His sentence was reduced from the requested 10 years to four years in prison. Kwon, who once dreamed of debuting as a singer, has since changed his name from Kwon Hyuk Jun to Kwon Yeon Oh.
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3. HA:TFELT’s father
HA:TFELT (formerly known as Wonder Girls’ Yeeun) once faced a lawsuit due to a fraud scandal involving her father. HA:TFELT’s father, Pastor Park, was accused of pocketing money from his followers. HA:TFELT denied having any involvement in her father’s fraud and condemned his crimes.
Pastor Park was heavily fined and sentenced to six years in prison for defrauding 150 people out of 19,700,000,000 won (approximately $17.5 million USD) in February 2017. He was also investigated for allegedly sexually assaulting one of his followers, a woman in her twenties.
I will never forgive my father who committed fraud and even sexual assault. I’ve promised my family that I would no longer engage in any contact with my father.
Although I am hurt, I am confident in my irrelevance to the case, and I will continue to faithfully comply with the investigations.
— HA:TFELT
4. Former AKB48 member Takahashi Minami’s mother
The mother of Takahashi Minami–a J-Pop idol, TV personality, and former member of the girl group AKB48–was arrested in 2012 for performing sex acts with the 15-year-old classmate of Minami’s younger brother.
Minami’s mother was introduced to the boy at the Takahashi family home–an apartment in Hachioji–while he and her son’s other friends were hanging out. After her arrest, Minami’s mother told police she had been forced into having sexual relations to protect her son. “I had to because they (the other boys) were threatening my son,” she said. She was subsequently fined 500,000 yen (about $3,293 USD) for violating an ordinance regarding the healthy development of youths.
The evidence shows that she was forced initially, but for the second meeting (and thereafter) she took the boy in her own car to a love hotel. It is hard for her to deny that she was pursuing her own pleasure.
— Reporter
5. KARA Goo Hara’s mother
Goo Hara passed away on November 24, 2019, at her home in Gangnam, Seoul. After Goo Hara’s death, her estranged mother contacted Goo Ho In, Goo Hara’s older brother, and attempted to claim a 50% share of the inheritance.
In response, Goo Ho In filed a lawsuit and pushed for legal changes to prevent negligent parents from having inheritance rights. In 2020, the Gwangju Family Court granted 40% of the inheritance to Goo Hara’s mother and 60% to her brother.
