"Burning Sun" Documentary Exposes How Jung Joon Young And KBS Lawyers Manipulated His "Molka" Scandal

This article is part of our coverage of Burning Sun Scandal. You can read more and view the entire timeline here.

BBC’s damning documentary about the huge K-Pop sex scandal “Burning Sun” has recalled how Jung Joon Young and his legal team manipulated the investigation of his 2016 “molka” (secretly filmed footage) scandal.

Recordings shared in the documentary have shed light on the unethical tactics used by Jung and channel KBS‘ lawyers to pressure the victim into retracting her accusations.

In September 2016, Jung Joon Young faced accusations of secretly filming his girlfriend — referred to as “Kyung Mi” in the documentary — while the two were having sex at his home. Concerned about the potential distribution of the video, Kyung Mi reported the incident to the police. The star was then questioned two days later.

However, Jung refused to hand over his phone to the police for a forensic examination, opting instead to leave it with a private forensics company. This naturally raised suspicions among journalists about the integrity of the investigation.

The documentary then reveals a recording where Jung’s lawyer is attempting to manipulate the forensics company into claiming that Jung’s phone data is “impossible to restore.”

We talked with the police and they’ll be there soon. The reason I called is it doesn’t matter to us whether it can be restored or not but the police suggested it would be best to say it’s impossible to restore. It’s just an unnecessary legal case.

— Jung’s lawyer

Later, BBC shared that — due to Jung Joon Young starring in the popular variety show Two Days And One Night on the channel — KBS lawyers contacted Jung’s accuser, Kyung Mi. The lawyers told her that if there was insufficient evidence of Jung’s crime, she could end up facing a harsh sentence for false accusations. After hearing this, Kyung Mi dropped the charges and even issued a public statement claiming that Jung had done nothing wrong.

download (14) — Jung in the show. | *TheQoo*

Soon after Kyung Mi’s statement Jung and his agency hold their own press conference to clear the then-star’s name.

I never imagined that what was supposed to be a joke between the two of us would become public and develop into such a big scandal. I was wrong to think that everything would go away if I was innocent.

— Jung during the press conference

These manipulations created a narrative that painted Jung as wrongfully accused while vilifying the media and the journalists who reported the case. Park, the journalist who covered Jung’s ex and her accusations, says, “This created a narrative where the media was the villain, and I bore the brunt of it.”