Ministry of Justice Submits Burning Sun Indictment to National Assembly... Singer Seungri Charged with Crimes

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] It has been confirmed that the Ministry of Justice recently submitted the prosecution documents of Police Superintendent Yoon Mo (50), who was arrested and indicted in connection with the club 'Burning Sun incident,' and former CEO Jung Mo (46) of the special ink manufacturing company Cubes, to the National Assembly.

According to the office of Gwak Sang-do, a member of the Future United Party, on the 24th, the Ministry of Justice submitted the full prosecution documents of Superintendent Yoon and Mr. Jung, with the suspects' names and personal information anonymized, to the National Assembly on the 21st.

Although Superintendent Yoon and others were indicted in October last year, it took five months for the prosecution documents to be submitted to the National Assembly, which appears to be due to the Ministry of Justice's principles regarding the disclosure criteria of prosecution documents. Since investigations into related parties, including singer Seungri (real name Lee Seung-hyun), are ongoing, it is analyzed that the disclosure of the prosecution documents was delayed. Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae has previously stated that prosecution documents can be disclosed after the first trial date, citing the presumption of innocence principle.

Mr. Jung was indicted on October 4 last year on charges including embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violations of the Capital Markets Act. Superintendent Yoon, suspected of collusion with Seungri's side, was arrested and indicted on October 30 last year on charges including bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and is currently on trial. The first trials for both were held on October 30 last year and January 7 this year, respectively.

Seungri, who is also involved in the case, was indicted without detention on the 30th of last month, and it appears that the Ministry of Justice has judged that it is permissible to submit the prosecution documents of Mr. Jung and Superintendent Yoon to the National Assembly.

However, the Ministry of Justice rejected the request to disclose Seungri's prosecution documents, stating, "There is a concern that the defendant's right to a fair trial and the privacy and honor of those involved in the case may be infringed," and only submitted a summary of the charges to the National Assembly. According to this, Seungri is investigated to have brokered prostitution for foreign investors from December 2015 to January 2016 and personally engaged in prostitution twice between September and December 2015.

Additionally, the charges include habitual gambling eight times amounting to approximately 1.88 million dollars (about 2.2 billion won) at hotel casinos in Las Vegas, USA, from December 2013 to August 2017, and failing to report capital transactions exceeding 1 billion won despite borrowing chips worth over 1 million dollars in June 2017.

The Ministry of Justice also outlined the charges against singer Choi Jong-hoon, who was indicted alongside Seungri, including bribing 2 million won to an on-site police officer to evade a drunk driving crackdown in February 2016, and distributing nude photos and obscene videos of women in a KakaoTalk group chat. The summary of charges submitted to the National Assembly also includes the case of singer Jung Joon-young, who was fined and indicted by summary trial for allegedly engaging in prostitution once in December 2015.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.