SEOUL, March 15 — The firestorm surrounding Jung Joon-young’s illicit sex video scandal has engulfed yet another K-pop star: CNBLUE guitarist Lee Jong-hyun.
FNC Entertainment was forced to issue an apology today after an initial statement earlier this week saying that Lee had nothing to do with Jung’s scandal.
“We had no intention of hiding the facts or condoning his wrongdoings,” today’s statement read, according to Koreaboo.
“We apologise to those who have suffered due to the immoral and promiscuous conversations that took place without a sense of guilt and to everyone who was disappointed by this issue.”
For now, the agency said Lee, who has been doing his compulsory military service since August 2018, will take time out to reflect on his behaviour.
“Jonghyun, who is ashamed and regretful, has accepted the criticism from the public due to his wrong sexual ethics and values and is deeply regretful and guilty,” the statement continued.
“He will be more cautious about is words and actions as a public figure, reflect upon himself and atone for his past mistakes.”
But with some fans lobbying for his removal from CNBLUE, his long-term future in Korean entertainment is up in the air.
The statement followed a report by TV broadcaster SBS yesterday that claimed the 28-year-old rock star was among those who had viewed and shared the hidden-cam footage in a KakaoTalk chatroom.
SBS supported its claims with screengrabs of an undated conversation between Lee and Jung in which they talked about women in a disparaging manner.
This morning, Lee erased all posts in Instagram “cnbluegt,” which has about 2.1 million followers.
Jung is under investigation over allegations that he filmed himself having sex with at least 10 women and shared the footage without the women’s knowledge or consent in online group chatrooms.
Yesterday, FTISLAND’S Choi Jong-hoon and Highlight’s Yong Junhyung announced that they were quitting the entertainment industry after they were implicated in the snowballing K-pop scandal.
