News of Seungri, formerly of the group Big Bang, living in Cambodia has surfaced and become a topic of conversation.
Seungri was implicated as a key figure in the 2019 Burning Sun gate and caused controversy, and he served 1 year and 6 months in prison on nine charges including prostitution, arranging prostitution, violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes, violation of the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, violation of the Food Sanitation Act, habitual gambling, and foreign exchange transaction law.
After serving a prison sentence, Seungri was expelled from the domestic entertainment industry and is currently working as a businessman. In overseas locations such as Cambodia he has said, "I will bring G-Dragon here someday," and he has also shown himself using Big Bang for his business, for example dancing to G-Dragon and Taeyang's "Good Boy," which drew frowns.
There were also occasions when he was spotted domestically. He was photographed eating with a woman at a pork bone soup restaurant in Songpa District, Seoul, which drew attention, and he appeared at a nightclub in Hangzhou, China. In a photo taken with a businessman, his body had become noticeably larger compared with his group-activity days. His jawline was gone and his belly protruded to the point where it was hard to tell if he was the "Big Bang Seungri."
Seungri was recently mentioned again because of crimes targeting Koreans in Cambodia. The club pub "Prince Brewing," known to have been operated by the Chinese-Cambodian company Prince Holdings, which was pointed to as being behind crimes in Cambodia, has closed, and then it emerged that Seungri had visited there in the past.
The relationship between Seungri and Prince Brewing and Prince Holdings is not known. Although Prince Brewing is known as a brand under Prince Holdings, locals say it often operates simply as a brewery-cum-pub, so the allegations linking Seungri to criminal groups in Cambodia seemed to be a mere incident.
But a new allegation related to Seungri's current situation was raised and shocked people. On the 19th, on the YouTube channel "JiritJirit," reporter Oh Hyuk-jin said, "There are reports that he parties with Cambodian crime syndicate executives, like a second Burning Sun of Korea in Cambodia," and "He socializes with money launderers and people who do voice phishing and mostly hangs out with people in the casino side... there are reports that he parties with Cambodian crime syndicate executives. He would have tried to create something like a second Burning Sun of Korea in Cambodia, right?"
He added, "In Southeast Asia there is still an image of him as a member of Big Bang. Because of that, he was trying to prepare businesses, and as far as I know he now mainly goes back and forth to Thailand."
However, that remark is a one-sided claim and its credibility remains to be seen.
[OSEN]