South Korean court on Friday (November 29) sentenced K-Pop stars Jung Joon-young (30) and Choi Jong-hoon (29) to six and five years imprisonment, for raping drunk women.
Convicted for raping, sharing sex videos
Both K-Pop stars have been convicted for gang-raping a number of women. Jung was also charged with filming the assault and distributing the footage, Reuters reported. Both were members of online chat groups that shared secret sex tapes and made jokes about drugging and raping women, the Seoul Central District Court said.
Jung admitted distributing the obscene videos, but held that sex with the women was consensual. Choi too denied raping women and stated that though he couldn't remember sex with the plaintiff, if it did happen, it must be consensual.
'Considered women as objects of sexual pleasure'
Along with the prison term, both convicted have been sentenced to 80 hours in "sexual violence treatment" education. They are also banned from working with children. Judge Kang Seong-soo said that Jung, 30, had raped women who were "drunk and unable to resist, filmed them nude and having sex then spread it on a group chat". "We can't imagine the pain the victims might have felt who found out later", the judge added.
"The defendants are well-known celebrities and friends, but the chat they've had showed that they simply considered women as objects of sexual pleasure, and committed crimes that were extremely serious," the Judge said as he gave the verdict.
'I deeply regret my foolishness'
In the final testimony, Jung said, "I deeply regret my foolishness and I feel great remorse". "From now on, I shall only give out and live in remorse," he added. Jung, who rose to fame on a TV talent show, quit the music industry in May, after admitting that he secretly filmed women and shared the videos.
While, Choi "did not feel remorse after mass-raping drunken victims", the Court held. He was a member of the band F.T. Island, which had number one albums in South Korea. This is yet another case, revealing the dark side of the highly-popular K-Pop industry.
