Sang-chu (left) and Se7en.
Two well-known K-pop singers are under fire after video shot by a Korean broadcaster showed them entering a massage parlor known for prostitution.
A camera team from the SBS network followed a group of “entertainment soldiers,” or Korean malecelebrities who are serving their compulsory South Korean military service doing promotional activities, and found they weren’t living the life of a typical soldier.
After attending an event commemorating the start of the Korean War on June 21 in Chuncheon, Ganwon Province, six entertainment soldiers — including superstar singer Rain, K-pop singer Seven and Sang-chu of hip-hop duo Mighty Mouth — checked into a motel and went out for a night of drinking, which was recorded on video.
At about 2:30 a.m., Seven and Sang-chu, identified by the JoongAng Daily, went to a massage parlor which SBS said was actually a brothel. They emerged about a half hour later and the camera crew confronted the pair, who pushed the reporter away and tried to break the camera.
A staff member of the massage parlor told SBS that the actors paid 170,000 won (~$147) for treatment but didn’t have enough time and received a refund.
The soldiers may have violated several military rules which state that the entertainment soldiers are to return to their base immediately following an event, not use cellphones and not dress in civilian clothes. In addition, they may have violated military laws regarding their off-base behavior.
Despite photographic evidence, the soldiers denied drinking and said they went to the massage parlor for knee pain treatment, an assertion that was backed by Korea’s Defense Media Agency, the public relations arm of Korea’s military.
