The world of Korean pop music experienced another shock when news of popular K-Pop MV director Cha Eun Taek getting charged for his involvement in cases of corruption scandals and embezzlements.
Mr. Cha is best known to his colleagues and fans as the video director for some of YG Entertainment's prime artists such as the boy group BIGBANG. He was also responsible for some of the ideas on the MV of another YG artist, PSY, for "Gangnam Style," which trended worldwide and caused the global success of the said artist.
On November 27, BBC wrote that Mr. Cha was set for trial after his corruption scandal, which threatened to engulf the president of South Korea, Park Geun Hye.
According to the same source, Mr. Cha used his connections linked to the President's office to win over several production projects in the field of K-Pop. More than this, Mr. Cha also used this opportunity to extract large amounts of money.
Aside from this, The Guardian also stated that this also amounted to further scandals. Apparently, that link being referred to by Mr. Cha is Ms. Choi Soon Sil who is linked with the president.
According to prosecutors of the case, Ms. Choi was involved in different cases of coercion and embezzlement and extracted more than USD 60 million (or GBP 48 million) from top companies, which even included the likes of global technology company Samsung. Furthermore, Ms. Choi was even accused of meddling with the state preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Mr. Cha and Ms. Choi are currently in the hands of authorities with their respective charges. President Park declined a series of questioning from the prosecutors regarding the scandals.
Because of these scandals, several protests arose in different parts of South Korea requesting the President to step down. As of the time of writing, the case is still under further investigation.
