Editorial by SCMP Editorial

K-pop, South Korea’s main cultural export, has been revealed not as squeaky clean as it has been promoted. A snowballing sex and corruption scandal involving some of the industry’s biggest names has shocked and disappointed the global legions of fans. It should not have been a surprise; the mix of big business and vulnerable young men and women is a recipe for exploitation, as it has often been in popular entertainment everywhere. Adulation for the bands and the share prices of the companies behind them are suffering, but the biggest loser is the nation, the pervasiveness in Korean society of discrimination, abuse and misogyny having been exposed to the world.

At the centre of it all is Seungri, singer of the group Big Bang, and caught up are members of other bands that have brought K-pop into the music mainstream. They are variously accused of providing prostitutes for wealthy clients at nightclubs, drugging women for sex, secretly making videos of sexual acts, watching and sharing pornography in chat rooms, and bribing police. Some have voluntarily quit the industry and fans are calling on others to leave. The controversies are sucking in ever more stars and have given fresh impetus to the nation’s #MeToo movement against sexual abuse.

Women have long been packaged by South Korea’s male-dominated entertainment industry as sex objects and scandals are not new. But a darker side than could have been imagined has been revealed by the latest offences. K-pop’s fans are mostly women and the industry and South Korean government have promoted it as wholesome and pure; the lurid accounts of elicit spy cameras in restrooms, alleged rapes and videos of sex without consent have caused outrage. The inequality of women in Korean society has been highlighted along with their abuse and mistreatment.

President Moon Jae-in has understandably interceded, calling for a thorough investigation of old and new scandals. The global standing of K-pop, which has rapidly grown to a US$5 billion annual industry, is threatened. Scrutiny of the money and power at the root of the crisis is good for the industry and introspection is welcome.

But there also has to be change for Korea’s women.