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Posted by hohliu7,545 pts Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Beneath the Brights lights of Gangnam article from BBC News

Following content are Cut/Paste from BBC. It is a interesting read that elaborate the lack of support the law gives to victims in the Clubs and Bars in South Korea. With advanced date drugs available, victims' cannot be traced for drug in their system easily. I seriously hope more support are in place for the victims and anyone going out for a good night. And these applies to every Country, as in the West such deeds are common too.

From BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/wor...

Earlier this year, the meticulously managed world of K-pop was rocked by scandal.

Seungri, a singer in one of the world's most famous boy bands, Big Bang, was questioned by police over allegations he was procuring prostitutes for his business and had embezzled funds at Burning Sun, a nightclub he part-owned in the exclusive Gangnam district of Seoul, South Korea.

Several of his celebrity K-pop friends were also caught sharing sex videos and bragging in a chat room about raping women. One by one, Korean heartthrobs more used to being mobbed by fans found themselves fending off reporters as they made their way to the police station to face questions from drug-taking to rape.

But in recent months an even more shocking picture has emerged of Gangnam, where South Korea's high society live, work and play. The BBC has heard allegations that in its glitzy nightclubs, women have been drugged to order by powerful men and raped, and that underage girls are being sexually exploited for profit.

The BBC has sought the voices of those caught up in Seoul's sex scandal. We have heard from club-goers and club employees as well as victims, including underage girls who say they were recruited to have sex with paying customers. They all say the abuse of women in the clubs is pervasive and often violent.

We have been told that elite clients, known as VIPs - and the richest VVIPs - were prepared to pay tens of thousands of dollars to have women who were enjoying a night out drugged and taken to a nearby hotel room, the abuse routinely captured on camera.

As one club-goer put it to us: "These men are hunters and they pay to get in the game. So you need prey. It's foolish to think you won't get shot in this place."

A warning: this article contains details of alleged sexual assaults which you may find upsetting.

'He kept giving me water'

We were shown harrowing video which allegedly depicts a sexual assault. The still image in front of me gives me an idea of the horror which will follow.

A woman is lying naked on a red sofa with three men staring down at her. I press play, and the men approach her. One laughs as he lifts up a limb and it falls. Her body is limp and she does not respond. The two minute video is too upsetting to describe in detail.

She appears to be sexually assaulted by all three men. Repeatedly.

The video was allegedly shared in a chat room between employees - I cannot verify its contents. But this clip is now part of a police investigation into activities at several clubs in Gangnam.

Gangnam has often been described as the Beverly Hills of Seoul. Flashy and fashion-conscious, it's a symbol of prosperity and status. At night, it's the neon playground of the very rich and those eager for a taste of the celebrity lifestyle.

The cost of a night out appears almost irrelevant. One wealthy, connected club-goer told us he spent up to $17,000 (£13,300) on just one evening. A viral social media clip shows a man spinning on the dance floor, throwing bank notes into the air like confetti. The décor is loud and ostentatious. The dress code is, of course, designer chic and for many of the more prestigious nightclubs, gaining entry requires being on an approved list.

DJs are celebrities in their own right, conducting crowds of dancers crammed around the turntables. Beautiful women serve thousand-dollar bottles of champagne to revellers who appear ready to party until dawn.

Kim - not her real name - used to be a regular on the Gangnam scene. She liked to dance and she had a few favourite DJs. One evening last December she was invited to a nightclub for drinks.

Among the group was an Asian businessman who she claims took an interest in her and began serving her whisky.

"When he was pouring the drink, I couldn't see him," she says. "He had his back against me. So I drank around 3 to 4 glasses. Every time I did so, he kept giving me water to drink."

At some point, she claims, she blacked out and woke up in a hotel room with the man looking down on her.

"He forced me to lie down but I didn't want to, so I kept getting up. When I got up, he would grab my neck and force me down on the bed over and over. I thought someone could die like this by having their neck broken.

"I started crying and yelling. Then, he got on top of me and used both of his hands to block my mouth and started pressing down hard. He kept saying 'relax, relax'."

She told us she feared for her life. "I couldn't resist his power and I was in so much pain that I could die, so I just gave up and lay there like a dead body."

Kim says she had been drugged in the club and was raped. Afterwards she threw up, then begged to go home.

"I was grabbing my clothes and other things to leave when he took his phone to take a photo with his face and my face in it. I said what are you doing and 'no, no'. But he grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go. So I thought it'd be best to just take this photo and leave otherwise I could get into some real harm.

"So he just took the photo and I left."

Kim went to the police the next day. They found no trace of drugs in her blood, but prosecutors tell us that is not unusual. The most common drug used to incapacitate a victim is thought to be GHB, or Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate a strong sedative that is undetectable in the body after a few hours.

"Thankfully I was awake when it happened and I can fully describe what I dealt with," she told us.

But she said she had found other women online who also believe they were drugged and raped after visiting Gangnam clubs, but have no clear memory of what happened.

The businessman was found and questioned but he has strongly protested his innocence. In a statement to the BBC he said she did not black out. He said he did not rape, sexually assault or physically assault her at all and that CCTV footage shows her willingly leaving the club with him and walking to the hotel.

The investigation continues.

'Bring me zombies'

Over the past few months, police have questioned nearly 4,000 people, focusing on allegations of drugs, prostitution, sexual assault and illicit filming linked to the club scene which have outraged the public. Those questioned include several male celebrities from the K-pop scene.

Seungri - real name Lee Seung-hyun - has resigned from show business, denying that he ever procured prostitutes but saying the scandal "has become so big".

The continuing controversy has led to the resignation of the head of a major South Korean entertainment company - Yang Hyun-suk, chief producer of YG Entertainment, which was behind the viral hit Gangnam Style. He denied wrongdoing, but said he could no longer withstand "humiliating" allegations of his involvement in a drug scandal and was stepping down to fight them.

More content of this article can be read from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/wor...

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    pink_oracle
    pink_oracle25,219 pts Tuesday, June 25, 2019 1
    Tuesday, June 25, 2019

    There was a feature on BBC news today about the celebrity date rape/club scandel. I mean, they're about two months late but it's good this problem is getting international recognition. Condemnation from abroad could hurt the tourist industry and a threat to profit might actually prompt the higher ups to take action.

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    hohliu
    hohliu7,545 pts Tuesday, June 25, 2019 0
    Tuesday, June 25, 2019

    This is my first Post on AP. Thank you for approving the article. I felt it is a good article to share with everyone.

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