Retired BigBang member Seungri’s legal battle heats up as the witness testimonies begin. The first witness testimony corroborates that Seungri had no knowledge or involvement with prostitution charges against him. Seungri, who has consistently maintained his innocence against prostitution and prostitution mediation charges, had his day in court to confront those allegations brought by Prosecution and face the Prosecutor’s Witness.
On November 19, Lawyer Son Byung-ho appeared with his client Seungri (Lee Seunghyun) for the third hearing of his Military Trial being held at the Ground Operations Command’s General Military Court in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do.
This particular hearing was explicitly scheduled to hear evidence towards specific indictments: prostitution (for self); and prostitution mediation (for others between December 2015 to January 2016 to attract investment). The sole witness for the hearing was Kim Mo, a former Club Arena MD.
When Prosecution asked Kim about Seungri’s alleged involvement in prostitution mediation, he clearly stated that Seungri played no role in the mediation. Kim testified, “I introduced women and took them to the vehicle according to the instructions given by Yoo In-Seok, not Seungri.”
The prosecutor then examined Kim’s six statements during the investigation at the police station and detention centers. Kim noted, “I was tired of prolonged investigations.” Adding that, “I had many inducing questions,” leading him to make inaccurate initial statements. Kim explained that he informed the police that he “did not know,” however, the police continued suggestive talks that influenced Kim’s statement that “Seungri and Yoo In-Seok called the woman.”
During questioning, he was able to correct his earlier statement. The witness stated, “At that time, there was an instruction from Yoo In-Seok.”
Regarding Yoo In-Seok’s habit of sending prostitutes as gifts, he mentioned that Yoo sent prostitutes to the party with Japanese guests. He stated, “I knew they paid a high cost.”
The Prosecution inquired about a certain Kim Lim who visited Club Arena. The witness responded, “When Kim Lim came to Arena, Yoo In-Seok and others mentioned creating a favorable position for the club by commenting, ‘please take care of me.’ MD Kim understood the context statement, and “so the guest was treated well in the club.” He did not mention Seungri as having any part in that incident.
When further probed about Seungri and Yoo In-Seok indictments for self-prostitution, the witness recalled a specific situation in 2015. Kim disclosed, “I can’t remember details of the incident, but I recall seeing Yoo In-Seok having sex with a woman with the door open.” Moreover, Kim certified he never witnessed Seungri having sexual relations with a woman.
The Prosecution asked Kim about Seungri’s alleged illegal filming, and he answered that he had never seen Seungri taking any illegal films of any nature. He added, “I remember that the nude picture Seungri sent to the group room was not taken directly, but was promotional material for an overseas bar.”
The witness also gave testimonial evidence regarding the chat room. The Prosecution raised concerns about the vulgar language used when speaking of women. Kim stated, “At that time, we were very young, and we took it as a joke. We didn’t think of it as a sexual conversation.” Kim then expressed remorse for his thoughtless behavior and word choice.
When the Judge asked about the nature of the conversation, Kim responded, “I understood [by texting] through play.” Cross-examination revealed a private conversation between young men that took on an inappropriate tone, but it was not about sexual relations. The Defense asked, “Isn’t it [text conversation] a rather intense [uncensored] expression of ‘hot women’ rather than prostitution?” Kim replied “yes,” affirming that the conversation was about hot women and had no prostitution connections.
Seungri reasserted his innocence, “I like people and parties, but I never intended to receive business investment.” Seungri clarified, “There is no motivation (for me) to arrange for prostitution.”
The Judge followed up with concerns about the party with Japanese guests and Seungri’s possible prostitution mediation. The Judge said, “It seems that a Japanese group who visited Korea at Seungri’s invitation in 2015 received sexual reception. Since then, there is a business connection, such as investing in Seungri’s businesses.”
To directly resolve the said concerns, Seungri stated, “In 2015, I worked as a group and did a world tour. The members remain in the dorms when I go abroad, but I like people and parties, so I went to clubs in that country, and I had time to promote friendship while being introduced to people.”
Seungri testified, “The 2015 Christmas party wasn’t just for the Japanese party.” He added that it was in gratitude to his friends and acquaintances who threw him birthday parties throughout December in several locations worldwide. Seungri invited friends from various countries, including Taiwan, Singapore, China, the United States, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Japan, to a lounge that he rented.
Seungri stated, “I clearly remember asking for 100 million won as a rental fee. It was a costly amount, but it was to reciprocate my friends. In fact, the investigation was only based on the group room’s message, so it is not possible to know the meeting’s conditions.”
Seungri established that the intent and purpose of the party was a celebration. He underlined, “This party’s nature was inviting all my acquaintances, and it was never a place to receive investment.”
Seungri underscores that over time the party attendees became involved in other activities that eventually became business-related. This development was a natural extension of forming strong ties with people instead of a planned outcome.
The Defense highlighted doubts about the police investigation statements and the fact that much of the investigation was motivated and guided by the media’s social interest and bias. The Defense asserted, “As a group message was released to the media and received social attention during the investigation process, the investigation’s purpose was to arrest Seungri.” He emphasized that investigators pressured Kim to incriminate Seungri. “Mr. Kim, who came out as a witness on this day, also clearly felt the intention to win [arrest to score points].”
The next hearing was scheduled on November 26 with five witnesses. To accommodate many witnesses, including Jung Joon-Young and Yoo In-Seok, they are currently scheduled a week apart until December 17.
Just recently, the case was postponed due to COVID 19 until after December 10th.
2 comments
This clears up some confusing points that were left unanswered in other articles. It is good to see quotes put in context of prosecution, defense and judges questioning. Nice work!
Nice work! It´s pretty clear