‘That son of a b****’: Actress Go Joon-hee curses at Seungri for her wrongful implication in Burning Sun scandal

One innocuous photo was all it took to hinder South Korean actress Go Joon-hee’s career.

The 38-year-old appeared as a guest on a recent episode of the talk show Don’t Forget Your Breakfast 2 hosted by Jang Sung-kyu, who asked her about her alleged involvement in the 2019 Burning Sun scandal, which saw the now-defunct Seoul nightclub implicated in sex trafficking and gang rape.

Sung-kyu, 41, broached the topic carefully, stating: “I’m asking since it actually had nothing to do with you. It was recently talked about on the BBC, Burning Sun. Your name kept showing up as a related search.”

Joon-hee calmly responded: “Ah, those sons of b******?” which shocked and amused Sang-kyu and the crew.

Joon-hee, who’s known for her dramas She Was Pretty (2015) and Possessed (2019), then said that she had “no idea” why she was mentioned in conjunction with the scandal, as she had no idea where the night club was and had never visited it.

However, she had tried over the last few years to set the record straight but mentioned that the media would “edit out” the part where she said she wasn’t involved.

This time, she wanted to discuss it with Sung-kyu’s promise that her words wouldn’t be edited.

Joon-hee said that her wrongful implication in the scandal came from a photo she took with “that son of a b****”, referring to former BigBang member Seungri — who was convicted of nine charges including abetting prostitution and embezzlement — without using his name.

She explained that they had been part of the same agency at the time, not referring to YG Entertainment by name either, and that Seungri had asked if they could take a photo together when they attended the same event.

“But since we didn’t follow each other on Instagram, I didn’t know he posted the photo on Instagram,” Joon-hee added.

Joon-hee started receiving calls from her friends after the Burning Sun scandal emerged, sharing that a news broadcast had revealed details of group chats between the perpetrators, and people were claiming Joon-hee was mentioned.

The text messages show a conversation between Seungri and his friend, discussing a redacted noona (older sister) who had gone to New York and could not “come by” to the nightclub.

Netizens speculated that the noona in question was Joon-hee based on the photo posted by Seungri, despite them not being close to each other.

Agency ‘didn’t take any action’

Joon-hee thought the situation could be resolved by asking her agency to make a statement refuting that she was the one mentioned, but shared that the company “didn’t take any action”.

“Image is key for actors, but the company just wouldn’t say, ‘It’s not Go Joon-hee’, so I left the company and hired an attorney myself,” she added.

She explained that all the drama and movie productions she was planning on at the time “went to waste” and, through tears, shared that her mother got otolithiasis — a disorder of the inner ear — and didn’t tell Joon-hee as she was already under so much stress.

It had Joon-hee wondering if her “choosing this job” as an actress had indirectly caused her mum to become sick.

“I didn’t tell anyone that I was having a hard time,” she said, but added that she also “learnt a lot during that time”.

Joon-hee added that the most difficult part of the experience was telling people she wasn’t a part of it.

Nevertheless, when asked if she would still choose to become a celebrity if she could live her life over, Joon-hee said yes despite the turmoil caused by the scandal.

“I think this is my only option,” she said. “I just love working happily and healthily like this.”

With a smile, she added: “What’s interesting is that I kept getting offered to model for new products and stuff after that, [which had me thinking,] ‘How am I still getting ads?'”