SEOUL: A burgeoning K-pop sex scandal claimed a second scalp as a singer who rose to fame after coming second in one of South Korea’s top talent shows admitted secretly filming himself having sex and sharing the footage.

Jung Joon-young, 30, announced his immediate retirement from show business amid allegations he shot and shared sexual imagery without his partners’ consent.

“I admit to all my crimes,” he said. “I filmed women without their consent and shared it in a chat room, and while I was doing so I didn’t feel a great sense of guilt,” he added in a statement released late Tuesday.

Jung was one of three male artists in a group chat room where some members shared secretly filmed footage of a sexual nature of at least 10 women, according to local broadcaster SBS.

K-pop singer Seungri, a hugely successful member of boy band BIGBANG who announced his retirement from show business on Monday amid a sex-for-investment criminal investigation, was also a member of the chat room, the broadcaster said.

K-pop stars generally cultivate clean-cut images — and are actively promoted by the South Korean government as a key cultural export — making the scandal even more shocking.

South Korea has been battling a growing epidemic of so-called “molka” — spycam videos which largely involve men secretly filming women and sharing the illicit content with others.

“This case just shows that male K-pop stars are no exception when it comes to being part of this very disturbing reality that exploits women,” said women’s rights activist Bae Bok-ju.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2019