#372: K-pop Idol Goo Hara Helped Expose the BURNING SUN Sex Scandal In Her Final Days

27:25What a crazy bitch. She must be getting some really good D right now. I honestly think once her attention drops, she's going to release her own intimate video online. Wow. Her boyfriend's D must be like a drug. I'm actually worried for her parents. A sane person wouldn't even post this on their private Insta. Are her parents not embarrassed for having raised their daughter like this? This was the confirmation for netizens. That little fried rice picture was confirmation that Sully, the K-pop idol, is a sex addict. Another comment reads, she's a sex addict. She needs therapy. It's like she was born to be an adult star.

28:12Have you heard of the group FX? Yeah, yeah. They were one of the most iconic groups in K-pop and Sully was a member of FX. Sully has this very ethereal quality to her. She looks like a fairy. That's what she was known for People really really love Sully. She's very angelic looking talented and it's really hard not to root for her When she first debuted it was released that when she was younger She would go to this church retreat where these two girls would repeatedly bully her They would hold her head underwater and not let her come up nearly drowning her since then Sully suffered from severe aquaphobia and she wasn't even able to wash her face properly for the longest time but she's like that's not gonna be my life I am determined to challenge myself and overcome it so one of her biggest bucket list items was going scuba diving which she is eventually able to check off she has this very it factor about her a famous director would even say she's confident shines under bright lights and has the face of a princess Of course she was going to be famous.

29:192013, three years before the fried rice scandal, Sully's image comes crashing down. She is caught by the paparazzi spending time with this rapper named Chaeja, or I guess the English pronunciation would be Chueja. There is just a lot to unpack here. Chaeja is around 33 years old at the time. Sully is 19. They have a 14-year age gap. On top of that, Cheja's rap name is allegedly after his, quote, large penis. So at first, both parties do not confirm the dating rumors, but a netizen posts on a forum about how they found Cheja's lost wallet and it had pictures of Seuli in it, which like, what are the odds?

29:59People start going crazy at this point. Again, their agencies are still denying the dating. SM Entertainment, the agency that Seuli is signed with, says Choi Ji is only a senior in the industry who is like an older brother to Sully. They are not dating. Since they're close though, they do meet often. Eventually, the relationship gets confirmed and all hell breaks loose. It's just unleashed on mainly just Sully. I mean, I think we can all have our differing opinions on what age gaps we're comfortable with, but their relationship is not illegal. She was of age when they started dating. And I personally feel like I can't comment considering she seems to have a lot of love for him even after they break up.

30:37but I would hope that they were just good for each other, right? But there is a problem with how netizens react to the news of their relationship. After it's confirmed, news starts coming out about how Chui Jia is this romantic guy. He writes love songs for his girlfriend. That's the image that he's receiving in the media. Meanwhile, Sully's Instagram is flooded with people calling her a sex addict, mainly because she's dating someone with a stage name that refers to his private parts, which he even later states he regrets his stage name for the sake of his mother. She's so mad at him for it. He wishes that he could change it, but it feels too late now.

31:13Basically, netizens feel like Sully is a slut for dating someone older than her. And on top of that, they start dissecting her Instagram pictures, ripping them apart. This is like the beginning of microanalyzing every single picture that she ever uploads. Her every little movement, her every little breath is microanalyzed. these are just a few that netizens have a lot of issues with one of them just shows her wearing a cute mini dress that is sheer but you can't really see anything other than the outline of her thighs another one is her near a poster of a woman's butt and it's like those cheeky little shops you know and they have the neon lights and she has her hand on the butt and she's looking back at the camera pouting fully clothed like modest clothing at that point another one of her is doing a split fully clothed but it's not even a split it's like a regular Pilates pose she's just doing a back handstand and it's like splitting it's a Pilates pose it's working out and another one of her is in shorts leaned up against the wall all very normal if not even pretty tame pictures to post on Instagram for a celebrity but some netizens truly believed this was confirmation that Sully is a full-blown sex addict.

32:25They started flooding her Instagram with comments like, Sully's a porn star now. Is this really the sweet Sully we knew? She just becomes crazier and crazier. Is she out of her mind? She just wants to suck Chui-ja's private parts. She has no talent, but she's good at being a pervert. She's ruining her own life. Where is the pure and innocent Sully now? I don't like her anymore. She's a slut. One netizen sums up the quote controversy really well, which is, an idol performs as a sexual object, but must pretend sex does not exist. What? So they're saying SM Entertainment and all these agencies in K-pop will sexualize their idols to nobody's end for commercial success.

33:03But the minute that the idols themselves choose to do something with their body, that's not even inherently sexual. It's disgusting. It's vile. It's filthy. It's like this weird, sick gaslighting game that these people are playing on themselves. The controversy becomes so big that either indirectly or directly, it leads to Sully leaving FX, the group. She states that she will still be managed under SM Entertainment, but will pursue acting. It is around this time that Sully starts spending a lot of time with another famous K-pop idol, Kuhara. The two almost become best friends, inseparable, and they will die within a month of each other.

33:43Kuhara is a singer that debuted with the girl group Kara. So both of them are from like the most massive girl groups of all time. Kara was huge back in the day. They are one of the most memorable girl groups. They were one of the most popular South Korean girl groups in Japan. And out of the five members, Japanese netizens once nicknamed Kuhara specifically, the most beautiful Korean girl group member. In Korea, at one point, she was even nicknamed Goo Barbie. And around the time that Sully's dating scandal breaks, Kuhara has her own dating scandal. She's photographed at a park, walking around, holding hands with a man.

34:19It's nighttime so it does seem like the two of them are walking around at night to avoid being seen It seems more of like a private little escape That's what it looks like The man in the picture with Kuhara is highlight band member Young Joon-hyeong And Hila is a K-pop group Yes And just wait, he's gonna come back around during Burning Sun Interestingly, but not surprisingly Sully and Hara are the ones that are mainly criticized and bullied for being in a relationship with other famous celebrities At the time, the two guys, they don't really get much, if any, backlash Sully is accused of being a sex addict and a whore for dating someone over a decade older than her.

34:53Interestingly, he doesn't get hate for dating someone a decade younger than him. And as for Hara, a lot of toxic netizens just hate the fact that Joon Young didn't choose them and that he chose Kuhara. Even though this is Kuhara's very first public relationship, she's a full-fledged adult, netizens give her the title of being boy obsessed. Even though she spends almost every waking hour at work, performing, practicing, doing tours in Japan, in South Korea, and doing other work-related events She is considered boy-obsessed All she can think about in that pretty little head of hers are boys At this point, some netizens are so riled up about her relationship with highlight member Junyoung That they're willing to do anything to prove that Kuhara is not worthy of dating him Some netizens make it their full-time job to find something, anything that's going to confirm what they've all been thinking thinking Kuhara is not special.

35:44She's really not that pretty or talented and she's not deserving of Joon Young. That's what they're thinking. They're crazy. They're honestly like vultures. They act like they're working for the CIA when in reality they're not being compensated. It's not their job. They're weirdly obsessed. And instead of arguing something is for national security, they're just straight up trying to bully someone on the internet. Someone that doesn't even know that they exist. And they find what they're looking for. They dig deep into Hara's old social media from before she became famous and an old picture of her resurfaces kissing her boyfriend at the time.

36:14It's not even like sexual. It's like a light little, and there's a picture taken. They keep digging. They come across a series of photographs that look like Hara and her then boyfriend. This is again before she's famous and her boyfriend's also not famous. There are a series of photos that look like from context clues. They're celebrating her birthday and maybe a dating anniversary. That's what it looks like, which is fine. But netizens find a few problems with it. First, in this series of pictures, there's one photo of Hara and her boyfriend taking a picture in the mirror. Her boyfriend is holding up the camera and she has her arm around his shoulder.

36:51To me, the picture looks really normal, but a lot of people said that looks very suggestive and sexual. Then some of these netizens do more digging. They look for any sort of identifying pieces of furniture or layout in the place that the pictures are taken and they cross reference them with houses hotels pensions in the area and they come to the conclusion that the couple were renting out a pension for this anniversary event a pension first of all it's staying the night together at a place which is crazy to them now to give additional context a pension is a short-term rental it honestly is just like renting out an airbnb but korean netizens have stated the idea of spending the night at a pension with your significant other is regarded in korea as the same as spending the night at a hotel or a motel with your significant other.

37:34Basically, you mentioned the word pensions and Koreans will assume sex is involved. Then the third thing that netizens hunt down is the picture of Hara. And the picture is horrendous quality, but you can tell it's Hara and she has this cake in front of her and they count the number of candles and discover she's turning 17. When all of this starts circulating on the internet, Kuhara's friends come out to say, actually, we were all there celebrating her birthday. You can't see us in the pictures, but we were all there celebrating her birthday as a group. And this is wild. You guys are insane. Like netizens need to calm down.

38:07The netizens are on a rampage though. They're out for blood. They're not going to stop now. They go as far as calling the listed pension, asking about reservations that would have been made that year under the name Kuhara. No? Then what about these names? The list of Kuhara's friends that came out and said that they were there. The manager stated there were no reservations under those names. The netizens take that as, okay, that means it must have been under Kuhara's boyfriend's name and it must have just been them as a couple. They go back to the fine print of the pension listing website and it says, this specific pension only allows reservations for couples.

38:41They go through the listing photos. You can see a shower is made of glass and you get a clear view from it from the bedroom. So it kind of feels like a love centered pension. The netizens say this is basically a love motel. So there, they did it. They did all of this work to prove that Kuhara maybe, maybe had underage sex, or maybe she just rented out a pension so she could hang out with her boyfriend. From then on, there would be articles about Kuhara. One article would be titled, Kuhara Party Pictures, Mannequin Body and Perfect Proportions. So it's just talking about her body, which is already such a questionable title.

39:19But the comments would read, even years after this, we're interested in her pension, not her fashion. Kuhara is not normal. She went to a pension that had a bathroom with glass walls with her boyfriend when she was 17 years old. Another article that has nothing to do with Kuhara, a netizen writes, about Kuhara's pension, it's not the idols that are going through a hard time, but the company's CEOs. Stop backstabbing the companies that helped you rise to fame and treat them well. Kids these days always causing trouble. Wait, who? Treating who well? So this comment is about another scandal that was a stupid scandal of another K-pop idol.

39:56And the comment reads, these K-pop idols are ruining these SM Entertainment and all these entertainment company CEOs lives by creating these scandals. There is a talk show called Radio Host where celebrities will be interviewed by other celebrities or they call them MCs. At one point, they were to a degree considered the talk show that was not afraid to ask tough questions for celebrities. Kara was going to be on the show. And from the get go, the show gets off to an intense start. The host's label in front of her face on TV, Kuhara as a relationship idol. I guess implying that she's not known for her talent or her skill or for her music, but she's mainly known for her series of alleged relationships and relationship scandals.

40:41Side note, this is after Kuhara and her fellow idol boyfriend, Highlight Member Breakup. Kuhara was actually spotted out with another idol around that time and they were just grabbing lunch. I saw the paparazzi pictures, They look pretty platonic. They look like friends grabbing lunch, which even if they're not, even if they are dating, doesn't matter. But every single thing that Hara did, every interaction with any man is scrutinized. So of course, when these pictures come out, the comments read, it hasn't even been that long since she broke up with Joon Young, her ex. If they really are dating, Kuhara moves on so fast.

41:13This guy can do so much better. I say this as a fan of the male idol. You can date girls. Just date girls on your level. Kuhara's not on your level. meaning she's beneath him another reads don't care but he can do so much better she was in and out of a pension with a man since junior high and then dated Joon Young not too long after her debut and here she is with another man she's one of those typical girls who just can't live without a guy that is so crazy because in America when a celebrity gets in a relationship most of the time people are very happy yeah and it's almost like a good thing for them right like relationship usually helps their career yeah but in korea it's like that it's the end it's yeah it's so crazy i i find it a red flag when there are k-pop fans that hate idols being in relationships i maybe if they're in a relationship with someone really dangerous or problematic that's one thing but if it's the idea of them dating is just bizarre it's pretty clear that hara knows that the hosts of the show are going to try and talk to her about these incidents and she's not wrong kuara is instantly uncomfortable when the host turned their attention to her and they start off by saying that hara was scared to be on radio host and they're joking about it they're like hee hee hae but they say that in and of itself is telling because a guilty conscious needs no accuser they're like what are you scared of if you have nothing to hide one of the hosts straight up asks her what questions are you the most scared of if you tell us just don't talk about this we won't talk about it hara response you're still gonna ask about it anyway even if I say and the whole time she's smiling she's playing along she's not trying to kill the energy and be firm like no this is my boundary she's being very cordial no no we won't ask about it if you tell us dating I don't want to talk about dating the male host response oh that would take too long anyway which part or person do you not want us to talk about I don't have anything to talk about why do you guys keep doing that to me it's because if we take out the dating conversations when we talk to girl groups then there's not really anything we can talk about wow one of the hosts who has since regretted his statements turns to her and says oh she's like the dating idol i'm the what the dating idol i'm not hara has a water bottle in her hand and she slides it across the table i almost missed it because she doesn't chuck it she doesn't throw it she doesn't even slide it with much force it's very like stop it's like if you were to throw a tissue at someone or to kind of gently tap someone's eye like stop it it's more of the action that signals something rather than she's trying to hurt somebody remember this bottle she pushes the bottle to the host that calls her the dating idol and she's trying to laugh it off but the host all seemed shocked that she threw the bottle this is crazy like oh obviously she doesn't she's like saying no like how much more do you want someone to say no to and then she gets called out for being not nice or or oh that's nothing she's gonna have to formally apologize in a joking way the host said oh you're giving this to us for him to drink it right headlines will read kuhara gifts host with a drink and they're all laughing so you don't want us to talk about your dating yes because even if we open the door and i talk about it, there's going to be weird articles written about it.

44:35Listen, some advice typically once articles keep coming out, people stop caring so much. But interestingly enough, I looked into it and your relationship life doesn't seem as passionate as one might imagine. As I've said before, our Japanese promotions were very long and that's all I'm going to say about that. The host joke that throughout the show, they're going to keep asking her. They literally say in front of her, it's okay. During the rest of the show, we'll keep nudging her to talk about it gently like here and there and she just laughs and says no no no please no one of the hosts pulls out his cards like half of his cards that he's reading questions off of because you know those talk shows they have little key cards and he says well if we don't ask about hara's dating life i guess half these cards are gone up until this point it's a little awkward you can tell hara does not want to talk about these certain things but the way that the both sides are playing it off maybe you could pass it off as like one hee hee joke the four male hosts and kuhara and it is up until this point again it's not uncomfortable to watch because she's trying so hard to nicely very professionally and without killing this light-hearted atmosphere she's trying to set a boundary but the tone starts to shift when the girls reveal that one of the male hosts came to see them in the dressing room before the show to which the guy emcees poke fun at the fact that the senior went to go say hi to the juniors in korean culture typically the younger person or the junior in the industry has to go to the seniors and like inside like say hello thank you for having me wait they brought that this up in the middle of the show the girls brought it up and said oh yeah earlier when he came to visit us in the dressing room and then the male mcs are like wait the senior went to say hi to you juniors wow and the girls are freaking out and they're all waving their hand no no no we were getting we were getting ready because immediately this is going to look really bad on news and they know what they're doing like they are purposefully like setting them up right yes and i know for maybe not a korean audience it sounds like why would that be a setup but in korea these types of honorifics it's basically going up to your boss and being like like that's literally what they're saying no worse than that it's like a person without manner just rude disgusting disrespectful yeah thinks they're the shit thinks that they rule the world like it's giving a very bad connotation and the girls of course they start freaking out they're waving their hand no no no we're getting ready to come say hi we were getting ready first but we had to get ready first then another one of the cara members reveals that one of the hosts came to say hi and hara told him please go easy on us like our personal lives let's just keep it personal but instantly that's the first thing you guys bring up like the girls are bringing this up very light-hearted like again we told you not to talk about it and that's the first thing you brought up.

47:18Why are you guys doing this? But again, it's very, it's presented in such a graceful, classy manner, but the hosts don't like this is what I get. It's purely a guess, obviously, but this is kind of where the tone of the episode starts shifting. One of the male hosts turns to the co-host and says, I heard, you know, a lot about their personal lives. The male host looks very tense. And he says, if I open my mouth, I can end Kuhara. Instantly Kuhara stands up And again, she's smiling. She's still using her aegyo voice, which in Korea is like soft, cute voice. It's like she's joking angry. Like, stop it.

47:57What do you mean? End me. Like, oppa, you can't be 100 % confident either. She starts laughing and fanning her face and the hosts start cracking up and the guys just reassure her that he's joking. He's joking. But Hara sits back down and turns around in her seat. She's facing away from the cameras and slowly the room goes silent. Wait, are you actually crying right now? Hara turns around smiling and wipes a tear from her eyes and goes, Sorry, I was just really angry. One of the other Kara members goes to grab a tissue and another one is smiling and tells the host, Oh, you guys took it a little too far.

48:36And if anything, the male hosts look very uncomfortable, almost shocked at the outcome of this, as if the girls did not give them repeated signs and clear boundaries that they did not want to talk about this. the host tried to lighten the mood by saying the show has a history of making people cry but either way it's bad i mean even what he said about if i open my mouth i can end kuhara the implication of that it's it's not a question of if kuhara is doing something that the public would not like it frames the situation as she is you just don't know about it yeah like she definitely is you and you can't even like you can't even prove disprove that yeah exactly that's people that's all people gonna talk about now yeah now a few things to note the whole time hara remains completely civil professional sweet she's using aegyo the entire time even when she's trying to indicate that she does not want to talk about this she's playing along she does not kill the mood she does not make anyone feel uncomfortable even when she's crying she's laughing it off and saying sorry i i was just too angry she's not being somber in the corner like crying like why are you guys doing this to me it's not like that she honestly held herself with so much grace considering the situation at this point a few things to remember again in the k-pop world dating is not the same as hollywood it is a scandal even talking about allegations of dating is intense hara is already being bullied she likely felt immense anxiety at even the mention of the word dating because every time that word gets brought up she can probably see all the hate comments the cyber bullying the lost ambassadorships just her whole career that she's worked her whole life for going down the drain for what for allegations of dating she's trying to tell the host nicely not to talk about it but instead they make jokes they hint at the fact that they know things that would end her career insinuating she's doing bad things i mean watching this clip i just don't see how anyone would not feel for hara's frustration or side with her side note the host will later state that the episodes are scripted so the male host said the one that said he could open his mouth and end he said that all of it was scripted he has since apologized and he actually did leave the show because he just felt very uncomfortable apparently some say he left because military enlistment i don't know but the comments at the time read the male host obviously looked very taken aback i mean look at his facial expression it got tense did she seriously throw a water bottle in front of so many of these huge seniors.

50:57So she was sitting next to JYP, which is also a huge name in the industry. He said like zero during this entire conversation. They keep bringing JYP up. How is she doing this in front of JYP? What's the point of even coming onto the show if you're going to act like this? It's not like she doesn't know what the show is about, which side note, like I said, the water bottle throwing, you can't even really call it that. Like you really can't. Also, you think Hara has a choice in the show she goes on? Her agency very likely told her, you're going on this show. Another comment reads, This is the first time I changed the channel while watching Radio Star.

51:30I never really cared for Kara or hated on them in particular, but their attitude is just ridiculous. I could feel the male host in shock. So many industry seniors and they dare act with such disrespect. They need to be taught immediately. They're so disrespectful. Another reads, Kids these days, Kuwara, I heard you bought a million dollar building. If you make that much money without having any talent whatsoever, you can handle shit like this without crying. Another reads, empty-headed with no talent whatsoever as a singer seems like these girls think they're worse shit just because they're a bit popular who do they even think they are i really am not the type to leave comments like this but i'm just too angry exactly what do these girls think they are to go around acting like this at a place with so many seniors sitting around screaming and crying about their own mistakes accusing a host of not being proud of his own past and why is cueta's face so unnatural her eyes are all swollen and it's obvious that she's done some work to her lips If Hara doesn't want controversy for dating, then please act with some dignity.

52:28She cried and ruined the entire atmosphere over something that wasn't even a big deal. Obviously, she's hiding something for her to be crying like that. The male emcees, they look so awkward. And who does her fellow member think she is butting in like that, defending her? God, they're such a mess. Another comment just reads, you better answer the questions. Do you think you're a princess or something? You need to provide for the pay you're being given. so disrespectful cry all you want cry for a hundred days your controversies aren't going away there was a netizen poll done around the time where people were asked if they believe the mcs if they crossed the line or if kuhara crossed the line 91 of netizens that answered the poll thought hara crossed the line hara had to formally apologize for crying on the talk show and formally apologize for not being professional after being harassed yeah she had to apologize for making the male host feel uncomfortable.

53:24Side note, if you compare Hara's comments from her segment on Radio Host to interviews that her ex-boyfriend from Highlight did after their breakup, they should be the same, right? He should also be considered just as controversial as her, just as girl obsessed, because it takes two people to date. The comments on the segment read, it's been so long since he and Hara broke up. Leave him alone. See, this is why celebrities don't want to be public with their dating life. It gets used against them over and over again on shows like this. I always thought he could do better anyway. Let's move on from these comments.

53:54This is the best radio star could come up with asking about Kuara? Kuara isn't even relevant these days. Oh wait, so he went on radio host as well. But these are the comments. People are defending him. Yeah. They comment, Junyoung has achieved so much in his career and yet they ask him these low-grade questions about his dating life and Kuara. Why would the host even think that's appropriate to ask about Kuara? How would he feel if someone grilled him about his ex-wife?

54:32five years after kuhara's appearance on radio host in 2018 a new google trending search result gains traction you know how if a lot of people google something it becomes a trending search the trending search in south korea becomes kuhara video the second trending search is kuhara sex video, Kuhara sex relationship. There were threads on forums dedicated to the trending search and they read, where can I watch the actual video? I want to see it. Does somebody know where I can find it? The sick part of all of this is Kuhara never wanted this video to be seen. The quote sex video in question is actually revenge explicit material.

55:11Videos taken of her doing intimate acts without her consent that she is being blackmailed by. Kuhara filed a police report and news broke and a lot of netizens, not only do they not feel sympathy for her, but they want to watch it. The whole situation with the search trends starts with the assault case between Kuhara and her ex-boyfriend. He's a hairstylist that we are going to be calling CJ. This all starts unraveling September 2018. This is from the beginning of the episode. And I'm going to tell you how it's reported because during the unraveling of the situation, there were a lot of people switching sides.

55:49The tides just keep turning. Obviously hindsight is 2020, but at the time, like, I think it's important to note the types of comments that Kuhara is getting throughout this whole situation. Initially reports start coming out that Kuhara assaulted her boyfriend for breaking up with her. I will say after this one singular report, Hara receives a lot of hate because I mean, Yeah, the only report there is as of this point is that she hit her boyfriend. But even then, some netizen comments are just questionable. They write pension, cigarettes, living together, violence. The answer is all there. She's crazy.

56:22She just dates nonstop as if she cares anymore about what the news says about her. She's rich enough to own a building. Another reads, I heard she does drugs. So her boyfriend wants to break up with her and she goes to the extreme to get him to stay. But that same day, a second report is released. a very short one. This time it states that Kuhara has reported to the police that this was a two sided assault case. She told authorities that it was CJ that hit and kicked her first. The Gangnam police seem to agree with the fact that they both harmed each other because the Gangnam police would later report it appears both parties assaulted one another.

56:56And this causes even more confusion amongst the netizens. There are a few groups of people now people that support Hara people that support neither and think that physical violence is never okay regardless of who started it and who ended it and people who are questioning both party stories saying I personally don't understand the man even if she hit him he basically tattled to the police was he not able to resolve it between the two of them I feel like he's using her status as a celebrity against her some people start questioning if Hara's boyfriend even hit her why were they there why would they question if Hara was ever hit like that's such a weird thing did they receive special anonymous sources No.

57:32They said, let's be real. The boyfriend let her hit him. If he really wanted to beat her back, she'd be hospitalized right now. She doesn't realize how grateful she should be, but instead she's accusing him of assaulting her too. If he really beat her, she'd be hospitalized and his life would be over. That's gender discrimination for ya. Soon, a third report comes out. This report states that Hara is currently in the hospital. She's currently being treated for injuries sustained from the incident with her boyfriend. She's being treated. Almost immediately after that report is released, Hara's boyfriend, CJ, the hairdresser, sits down with the news network to share his side of the story.

58:12He says, I didn't know that me calling the police for both of our safety would become such a big issue. Some of the news reports are reporting things about me that are just completely false without consent. So I decided to do this interview. I didn't break into Kuara's house. the passcode for the house is the day we met and we were using the space together implying that they moved in together which is a huge implication in Korean society before getting married I'm just shocked by the malicious comments currently I'm unable to receive help from anyone I don't know what to do I'm also in pain physically and emotionally if it's a crime to be the one to request a breakup then it's my fault however it's not a two-sided assault case we used to be lovers but now we're separating with scars like this and it just pains me I may be a non-celebrity, but I hope that Hara herself will reflect back on this Apart from her status as a celebrity and apologize to me For a day or two, the reports go silent Then Kluhara's boyfriend does another interview This time he releases pictures of his bloodied face to news outlets He has two scratches on his forehead and one above his eye They're pretty deep and they look pretty bloody The article states he also has a one and a half inch wound under his eyes Bruises and abrasions on his forearms and a few injuries on his back the injuries in the picture I will say do look intense and of course netizens turn on Hara along with the pictures Hara's ex-boyfriend gives another statement he says and again this is his second statement and we have almost no statements from Hara other than her stating that this was a two-sided assault case the ex-boyfriend tells the media outlets I've never thrown a fist at anyone in my life moreover I have never struck a woman like that if Kuara got bruised it was only through physical contact to calm her down when she hit and scratched me and it was not caused by my fist or other violence.

59:53This is not true, I swear. He also complained that his wounds were so deep that it made social life quite difficult. Whatever that means. I don't know what that means. Regardless, a lot of netizens are upset with Hara. Some even argue that Hara had no injuries listed about her face. She showed up to the police station and she had no injuries on her face, but look at whose face he has injuries. They stated that if two people are violently assaulting each other in a domestic violence situation, they will go for each other's faces because it's heightened emotions which means because she has no scars on her face he didn't assault her which is crazy people are just exposing themselves as potential domestic abusers because what are you saying side note at this time korean news outlets one of them they used this picture for the article which is of kuhara allegedly assaulting her boyfriend but the picture is from kuhara on a variety show boxing another contestant and it's a mid-action shot where she looks like she's about to punch the other contestant and i'm sure it's all fun and games like it's within the game parameters like that's what she's supposed to do but to use that in an article about domestic violence where it's questioned right now who the assaulter is it's crazy yeah yeah yeah yeah she could be a victim she could be the pure assault we don't know anything at this point technically but they use that picture of her other netizens speculated that the injuries on cj are so bad, so strong that no girl can do that.

1:01:17No skinny K-pop idol can do that. So that leads netizens to believe and openly speculate Kuara must be on drugs. Drugs give you superhuman strength. That's the only way you can inflict those injuries on a full-grown man. Kuara then releases her side of the story with dispatch. She does not come alone either. She brings her roommate. Let's call her Bella. They call her Mrs. B in the media files. Bella is Hara's roommate and she was there when the assault took place. Kuara brings her phone with messages between her and CJ, her ex. She brings her full medical records, a full account of what happened that night.

1:01:51The two girls tell dispatch, this is what happened. And it all starts because of a work lunch appointment. A few days before the incident, Hara had to go to lunch with her manager and a guy who also works in the industry. So literally it'd be like going to lunch with your male coworker. And it's not even just a guy that works in the industry. She's supposed to do a photo shoot with him. She's not even that close with him. And they had this upcoming photo shoot. So this lunch, they're going over all the details with the manager. But Hara knows the minute she even mentions that another guy is going to be there, that it's not just her and her manager.

1:02:23It's going to be a whole thing. CJ is going to blow it up into some big deal and they're going to fight over it. And she just omits that detail. She tells dispatch, he's usually very good to me. He's caring, but whenever any guys come up, we fight. If I get a call from a close colleague or an oppa, he becomes very scary. He says things that shouldn't be said. I didn't want to fight because of that, so that's why I didn't tell him if there were going to be guys at that meeting. It was the same day. I just didn't want to cause any trouble that day. Bella Butson. He was suspicious of even all of her work relationships.

1:02:54He always checked on her by asking, Who is he? What are you doing? And if she went drinking, he would say really harsh things, disturbing things that are difficult to hear. Hara would lie because she didn't want to fight and the vicious cycle would just repeat itself actually Hara once tried to break up with him and she wrote a letter saying let's just end it here and he burned it in the restroom in summary the guy loses his mind if she's around another man and he seems terrifying when he's mad which is why Kouara tells him she's just going to lunch with her manager he finds out he finds out that there's another guy there and instead of self-reflecting on why his girlfriend might feel the need to lie to him he blows up Hara tries to visit him two days after the lunch to try and explain to him why she hid it from him explain the situation but he doesn't want to hear it he kicks her out he does not talk to her for the rest of the day until 12 30 in the morning CJ gets drunk shows up at Kluera's house he gets in through the front door because he knows her house key code most Korean residences have a keypad instead of a key he punches in the code lets himself in and starts looking for Kluera Hara's sleeping in her roommate's room that night they both just fell asleep talking to each other hanging out he finds her and he's standing over the two girls and he starts using his foot to kick hara he's pissed he's kicking her non-stop are you sleeping you're able to really fucking sleep right now huh the roommate bella wakes up but it's so uncomfortable so she just pretends to still be asleep and she says that he sounded very very drunk eventually hara gets up and tries to talk to him but he's getting very emotional the two of them leave the roommate's room to figure it out in private and bella can hear them and at first it sounds like muffling like they're arguing but trying to keep it down slowly it turns into full-blown fighting and not just screaming but bella can hear things being thrown can hear people being slapped she can hear furniture being broken outside cj is grabbing hara by the hair throwing her around hara is fighting back trying to get him off of her he has scratches on his face he throws hara up against the wall and throws a pretty big air purifier at her which air purifiers are the size of small carry-on suitcases like the one it's pictured they're not small little humidifiers he starts pushing her swearing at her and hara fights back she screams who are you to push me who are you to curse at me which i think in english it sounds very much like who are you i'm better than you who are you you're nothing right but in korean it's a little bit different there's some missing context it's typically used more in the sense of no you i'm not gonna put up with this treatment like it's almost like self-talk yeah yeah it's like who are you like i i'm not gonna take this from someone i'm not gonna do this i'm gonna stand up rather than i'm better than you who are you like it's not like that but he does kind of try to spin it like that later bella rushes out of the room and bella sees in hara's room the whiteboard on the wall knocked off the door is broken the air purifier is partially broken hara's face is swollen her jaw looks messed up her arms and legs are swollen and scratched and cj tells hara i'm gonna fuck you over i'm gonna make sure your career is over eventually things calm down enough so that cj starts gathering up all of his stuff he starts making his way down to his car and to back that up there is cctv footage of both of them in the elevator at around 120 in the morning they're both standing in the elevator somewhat analyzing their wounds in the elevator mirrors cj is carrying luggage and again presumably his luggage after breaking up with hara and he's smoking a cigarette in the elevator which side note a lot of k netizens pick up on this detail.

1:06:19So first of all, you're not allowed to smoke in elevators. And second of all, in Korean culture, it's just considered a man who smokes in front of a woman, especially a romantic partner. Unless that woman smokes, it's a very stereotypical guy image you get. Like it's a very specific man who does that. And he's just like smoking in the elevator in front of her. It's just, it's kind of like, I guess, a trashy look. So that gets used as evidence later, but I'm just bringing it up because there's a lot of discourse. Anyway, CCTV footage shows them heading into the parking lot where CJ gets into his car, turns it on, and he just sits in his car idling for a little bit.

1:06:57He's sitting there at 1.26 a.m. sending an email. Keep this detail in mind. This email is very important. No way. Then he drives off and texts Hara once he's gone. He just texts her no words, two files, two video files. The first one is a 30-second clip of them being intimate, then another eight-second clip. It is a threat without words. He sends two videos of her to her. Yeah, it's a threat without words, but he tries to spin it. Just wait. Kuhara does not respond because she's busy calling the guy that she had lunch with, the male coworker. There's a lot to unpack here, but it appears that him sending this message to her, sending her the videos after their fight, it's definitely a, hey, look, I'm going to spread these.

1:07:42Look what I have over you. Why does Kuhara immediately call the guy that she and her manager had lunch with? Because previously, CJ told her that he wants both of them, Hara and the guy co-worker, to get on their knees and beg him for forgiveness for that lunch. Kuara is trying to give this unhinged blackmailer what he wants because he's threatening her. But because she's calling this guy, she's not responding to his text messages. And every time CJ calls her, her phone has a busy tone and he texts her a few minutes later. You're like a real estate agent, unreachable. I'm wondering why I have to wait.

1:08:14You said to come. I can come to you. Never mind. My trust was broken because I can't reach you. So you're just going to leave? You told me to make the call to them, to the guy. You sure are on your phone for a long time. Squiggle, squiggle. Like he's trying to make it very passive aggressive. Wait, so at this point, Guhara is trying to call the guy to apologize to him? I'm sure she's trying to explain and this would be like the world's biggest favor. And I'm sure as like a fellow industry professional, he probably would have. Yeah, but that just shows how desperate she was. She even calls the head of her former agency, but it's like two in the morning.

1:08:49No one's picking up. She said, you told me to tell him the whole story so he would come and kneel. Let's meet and talk. He said he's coming. He said he's almost arriving. Talk? I don't want to talk. Why should I talk? Like I said, I'll have him kneel before you. What difference would that make? You said that's what you want. CJ then sends a picture of a scratch on his forehead and he continues to make sarcastic remarks. He also sends a photo of him calling her and she's not picking up He texts, looks like you're busy You said let's meet I guess I'll just do my own thing from now on then So sorry, do we know who he is?

1:09:27Oh yeah, yeah He's a chae jeongbum He's a hairstylist in Gangnam His information is out there? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah Is he still out and about? He was, but now he's like pretty under the radar But he, there's nothing, he's not like charged with anything though He does later, he gets charged, yeah but it's a whole thing. The judge is crazy. Everybody's crazy. Like it's never ending. Just when you think, well, justice came late, but maybe we'll get some justice. No, no. She texts, where are you? I'll come to you. He sends a picture of his face. Even if I wash my face, I can't go to work. Thanks to you.

1:10:01Oh, sorry. You're probably meeting that guy of yours. Sorry to interrupt your nightlife. I just wanted to ask you what I should do about my face. She doesn't respond. And two minutes later, he texts again. Hello. If you don't respond, I'm just going to go to the police. He ends up coming back to her place and she does indeed get on her knees as evidenced by the CCTV footage. The guy friend does not show up. I don't know if she told him not to. I don't know if he was still on his way, but he calls the police and accuses her of being an abuser anyway. He conveniently makes no mention of his blackmailing or threats.

1:10:34Kuara states the video and pictures were taken without her consent or awareness. She says she's ready to face the consequences of assaulting him as well in this two-sided assault situation but she says he threatened me with a video for a female entertainer what could be more terrifying i acknowledge the hurt i caused i will be punished for it but what about the other hurt he caused me he's a blackmailer her medical records also that she gave to dispatch which is saying a lot on how desperate she was to get the truth out there dispatch is a tabloid that ruins people's lives Like the fact that she trusted them and went to them is like, she is truly just like trying to get the news out there.

1:11:11She's like, please, someone needs to believe me. Because, you know, tabloids, celebrities, they have very tense relationships. Doctors listed on the reports that Hara suffered from uterus and vaginal bleeding, multiple forearms, sprains, seizures and more. The vaginal bleeding is unexplained, whether it's from trauma or from any other condition. But it is stated in her records. dispatch releases pictures that shows all the bruises on her arms legs wrist hands knees ankles it's pretty intense the bruises aren't even just brown they're bright red like blood blotches all over her body and for the few netizens that still don't like hara for some bizarre reason further proof that she's telling the truth cj hara's ex-boyfriend sent two emails to dispatch the same tabloid that night hara came out with the piece through dispatch and then he reached out no he reached out during the assault the night of the assault and then later hara went to dispatch and dispatch was like you know what we trust you also because of this okay and they're like one of the emails that they received from her ex-boyfriend was at 1 26 a.m that night before the police are called this is when he first gets into the car to leave and he's sitting in the parking lot idling an email to tabloid dispatch reads i have a report to make about kuhara please give me a call the second one is sent at 4 20 a.m which would have been after the police came it reads subject report on kuhara message it won't disappoint please contact me i can't send videos or pictures right now but if you don't respond quickly i'm going to reach out to another network instead you really won't be disappointed i will say at this point either netizens don't know about what's going on or they're not keeping up with the news or they're on kuhara's side i would imagine if somebody is not, they need a lot of self-reflection.

1:12:58But CJ does not stop. He's on truly some unhinged mission to ruin Kuhara, even if it means taking himself down. CJ, the ex-boyfriend, responds this time with his attorney and the attorney states, it is true that the video exists. In terms of how the video came to be filmed, it was Kuhara who wanted to film the video first and over 80 % of the video was led and filmed by her. When my client asked, why are we filming this? Kuhara replied, I want to treasure a loving memory. While filming, when the phone fell down, Kuara set it back up. The fact that Kuara led the filming of the video can easily be confirmed through the video.

1:13:30Okay, but that still doesn't explain the blackmailing with it. It doesn't make sense. Okay, yeah, they filmed it, but he's literally threatening her with it. Yeah. The attorney says, if his goal was to leak or exploit the video, wouldn't he have already done so? Well, he was going to. Yeah, he was trying. I'm sorry he was unsuccessful But he was trying But he keeps yapping Look they fought because of Kuara's lies and issues with men When my client stated that he was leaving Kuara because of her lies She started the fight by grabbing him and saying Who are you to leave me? We will stand by our statement that the assault was one-sided Kuara's bruises were most likely born When my client held her hand Trying to stop her from attacking And as she fell and toppled when she tackled him He did not hit her Then CJ's attorney tries to guilt trip the public My client's mother has become ill due to shock after hearing about this quote, revenge porn issue.

1:14:23He has been holding back in consideration for the other party, but he is now being accused of being a heinous criminal. At the end of this very long nonsensical statement, the attorney states that CJ, his client, will be suing Kuhara for defamation. In another interview, CJ stands by the argument. The interviewer asked CJ, I mean, okay, regardless of if she wanted to film the video or not, like it is weird to send the video to her after a fight, like with no other accompanying message. How is a woman going to interpret that? He defends himself and said, the reason for sending it is like I said before, it wasn't like I was trying to do something with it.

1:14:58She took it herself, right? And basically after the fight, I was like consolidating my files and I was deleting files and I was like, okay, I guess I should just send this to her because she's the one that took it. He's basically saying I was Marie Kondo-ing my phone and I needed her to have it back because she took it. I don't even know why it's on my phone. I mean, who's going to even like buy into any of this? The police. The police agree with CJ. During the investigation, the police concluded initially they will change their mind, but they conclude that there is no definitive evidence that CJ was going to intentionally spread the video.

1:15:38He was no longer going to be investigated for violating the Sexual Violence Act, a.k.a. spreading sexual abuse through explicit videos, aka blackmail or what used to formally be known as revenge porn he's still going to be investigated for other charges assault breaking and entering hara's home but a lot of women all over south korea had a problem with this they were pissed they start feeling like wait first kuhara's boyfriend plays victim calls her the abuser makes her seem like this crazy girl that doesn't want to let him go when in reality he's toxic he's abusive maybe not physically up until this point but that night he was but so far he's been mentally and emotionally abusive making her so terrified that she can't even go to a work meeting without lying then he publicly shames her and turns out he was the abuser and he's blackmailing her with these revenge videos but the police are not going to charge him with that because he only threatened her with it and did not explicitly tell her in words that he was going to spread it even though there are emails to tabloids that states that he is juicy information about her like how much more can a threat and intention be a threat and an intention a petition was started by k netizens to strengthen the punishment for even the possession of revenge videos regardless of whether or not it is distributed the petition gained over 200 000 signatures in five days which is really fast in korea and the prosecutors would somewhat listen the new indictment would state cj used a cell phone camera to take pictures of the victim against her will, including her thighs, kicking and cursing at her while she was sleeping, pushing her chest with her hand, dragging her to the closet, kicking her in the stomach.

1:17:09When the victim clawed at the defendant's face, he threatened her by sending her a video via messenger and he stated to her in person, I will end your celebrity life. So this whole incident will turn into a massive legal battle that lasts multiple years. But once the initial sympathy for Kuhara dies down, her steadfast haters who literally have no job but to hate her they come back out of the woodworks they will use this situation to call her a boyfriend beater call her ugly and a liar kuara goes silent on social media for a while and back in november so a few months after she comes back with an instagram picture of it looks like she's walking into a room and the room is called the crying room so she takes a picture of the sign that reads crying room what year was this by the way 2018 2018 okay the caption reads i'm in pain and i'm tired a lot of her fans flood the comments we'll be with you every step of the way please have strength we're rooting for you so a lot of her fans are becoming a lot more vocal now but even after everything she's been through there are still negative comments that read difficult time but she still has to update her social media crying room just stay quiet you fool if i were in her shoes i wouldn't even care about updating social media or taking a picture of some crying room.

1:18:26I feel like she has a different brain setup than us. If you're sane enough to log on to social media and post a picture and write a caption, it's really not hard or difficult for you right now. Eight months later in 2019, middle of 2019, two things would happen. CJ will make a formal apology on Instagram while the legal case is still ongoing. He writes, I want to sincerely apologize for causing so many people to worry. I wasn't able to respond to messages from friends acquaintances and people who love me because my kakao talk account was gone I apologize once again for making so many people worry for so long and for causing disappointment I want to live in repentance for causing such deep disappointment to my peers who trusted and worked with me and the people who supported me and my family With this kind of heart and with the help and support of others I've been able to open up a salon after all this time I'm lacking in a lot of ways, but as always I will do my best as a stylist signed Chae Jung Pum.

1:19:24Wait, so he came out to promote his new business? Yeah. He used his apology, that's not an apology, to soft launch his new hair salon. It was shut down. Yeah. What do you mean it was shut down? People were like, we're not going there. He had to close it down. Yeah. But around that same time, May 2019, Kuhara posted on Instagram, I'm tired of pretending that I'm happy and everything is okay. I don't want to cause concern among other people. A few days later, she posts another Instagram picture with just a cryptic word. Goodbye. After seeing that, Hara's manager starts panicking, starts calling her.

1:20:01No response. They drive to Hara's house and find her unconscious and in critical condition. She attempted to self-exit. Thankfully, her manager rushes her to the hospital. And the comments under the articles about her attempted self-exit read, Attention whore! She'll look back on this in a few years and cringe at herself The true attention whores never actually die They feel satisfied with the attention they get from it No point in worrying about celebrities They're all rich and live well They only appear once in a while when they need attention Two days after the incident Hara is basically forced to make a public apology She says to the media and to the public I'm sorry for causing concerns and causing a big deal In terms of health, I am recovering I had been in agony over a number of overlapping issues but from now on, I will strengthen my heart and try to be healthy.

1:20:51And I'm sorry and thank you. I will overcome it harder and show you the best version of me. While all of this is happening to Kuhara in 2019, Reporter King is still going through all the USB files. So now the timelines have merged. Kuhara attempts to self-exit. Reporter King is going through JJ Weiss phones and she's releasing a few little articles about Burning Sun, but like the full death of Burning Sun is not uncovered yet. she's deep in trying to figure out who the police official is because there's clear evidence in the chat rooms that they know someone in power that's pulling strings for them one chat reads and this seems from context clues to be about maybe a drunk driving issue from choy from ft island he texts into the chat i got a call earlier from yongsan the police station what do they say the officer in charge of my case wished me a happy birthday ha ha ha another text read some fucker came in and took a shitload of photos of the interior of burning sun yesterday and snitched on us but the police prosecutor general said they're snitching because they're jealous so don't worry about it he's going to sort it all out for us hee hee so reporter kang she's already released a few articles about the chat rooms but right now finding out who their inside connection in the police is is the most important part it's such a crucial part of the investigation they can't go to the police with the evidence of the chat rooms until they figure out who these officers are and which departments are involved because if they hand over the evidence now the police might just cover it up.

1:22:14There's too much on the line to take a chance like that. In 2019, reporter Kang is sitting there pulling her hair out, trying to figure out who the hell this police officer is. So she's sitting there pulling her hair out, trying to figure out who this police officer is when her phone rings. Hello? There's a soft voice on the other end. Hello, reporter Kang? This is Kuhara. A K-pop idol reaching out to a reporter is unheard of. And for what? to help kuara said she wants to help hara tells reporter kang that she read the articles recently released about singly jjy and choy she knew them they were all friends at one point and they used to come over to her house and hang out and she didn't realize at that point but she does remember now seeing some things on their phone and it just was weird like i don't think she saw anything crazy but she was just like i don't know the vibes were weird and i guess with your articles it just clicked and I do think something is going on.

1:23:12I think you're right about it. Reporter Kang had never had a K-pop star talk so frankly with her. Usually their image is so tightly managed they don't speak without attorneys or without a prepared statement they don't deviate from. Maybe it's something in Hara that makes Reporter Kang just trust her because technically she could have been told by the guys to call if they're all friends but Reporter Kang trusts her and she says to be honest Hara I am not getting anywhere with this case. No one's taking my calls. Hara is quiet and says, well, I want to help. I don't know how much of a help I can be, but I want to help.

1:23:47There is something Hara can do for a reporter king. She needs a name, the name of the police official. It's never mentioned in the messages. Clearly, reporter king can't ask the police. She can't ask sources without tipping these involved off. She can't ask the parties involved, obviously, like they're going to tell her. She tells Hara in the Kakao messages, they keep referring to a police contact that makes their problems magically go away. someone they call the police prosecutor general he helped with drunk driving charges and other fines just making them banish can you get me the name of the police official hara is rather friendly with most of the idols involved and this is before she knew what they were doing with burning sun i mean it's a small industry so everyone was kind of friendly with them but she was actually pretty good friends with choy from fd island who is also involved in the chat rooms they were close even during their training days and likely they probably trauma bonded through what they had to go through to become idols.

1:24:39And I'm sure Hara, even after what she went through with her own situation with her ex-boyfriend, she likely has a lot of sense of feelings of betrayal for what Choi is accused of doing at this point because this is her friend. He's a good friend that's accused of committing very similar acts to what her boyfriend did to her. It's a lot to deal with, but she tells reporter Kang she's going to get Choi on the phone and they can record it. Hara manages to get Choi on the phone and tells him. She doesn't lie to him. She doesn't secretly record him. she convinces him to tell journalist Kang what he knows about the police official.

1:25:11She tells him, I can help you. Tell the reporter everything you know. Reporter Kang speaks. It appears he's someone very high up. Choi says, yeah, yeah, we actually met once and played a round of golf together. I heard he's currently at the presidential residence working for the president. He did work for the police. It's a police officer named Yoo Kyung-kyun. Side note, I don't want anyone to think Choi messed up, but here he is willing to talk to a reporter and maybe showing remorse. No, it's very clear Hara is the one that made him admit it. Reporter Kang was able to record the conversation and this was the big break in the case.

1:25:48Kang's reporting on the police officer with connections to the president's office that's helping out K-pop stars who are under investigation for crazy sex crimes. After that report, a wide police investigation ensues and the Burning Sun investigation would only grow bigger from there. but reporter Kang cannot help but wonder why would Kuhara help her? I mean, don't get me wrong. She's forever grateful, but people in Hara's shoes probably would not, especially right now, not too long after her self-exit attempt, after her countless battles with the media depicting her in this horrendous false light, why would she reach out to reporter Kang to have someone in the industry, the inside world calling a reporter who's in the middle of bringing so many of those people in that industry down, that's a big deal.

1:26:36Reporter Kang said, yeah, it can have been easy for a celebrity to just cold call a reporter the way she did. Hara was incredibly down to earth and brave. I was so grateful she was courageous enough to ask around for my contact number and reach out to me first. She said she wanted to help in any way to reveal the truth and she was a really, really big help to us. What stays with me is that Hara was the one that persuaded Choi to talk to me. And within a few months, Kuhara would be dead. And reporter Kang, along with the rest of the public, could not help but notice some very sick parallels in Kuhara's life and her friend Sully's life, two of the most hated K-pop idols at the time, and the parallels between their scandals, their life, their career, compared to Seung Lee, JJY, and Choi, some of the most beloved k-pop idols of the time and how the ones that are actually worthy of love do not get it until it's too late this is part one of this episode part two will be uploaded on sunday where we will cover the new updates of burning sun how all the guys are trying to make a comeback and the deaths of both sully and kuhara so please stay safe and i will see you guys in the next one.