Sajaegi Scandal
Have you ever heard of the Sajaegi scandal? Sajaegi was a term for a ‘chart manipulation’ trick between K-Pop idols and the agencies in South Korea. Moreover, sajaegi was done by certain entertainment agencies which also bought copies of their own artists albums to get higher rankings or to improve the chance to be a winner in music programs.
Some K-pop idols have been accused for the sajaegi scandal, such as LABOUM, TEEN TOP, SISTAR, BTS, and many more! There’s also an insider who once revealed the sajaegi scandal among the K-Pop entertainment industry. The insider revealed that if certain idols get to the top 10, they would receive at least a hundred million Won a month. With sajaegi, they could rent 5 PC rooms in the countryside, and also give them around 20 ID, then work through the morning. The insider heard that it could make certain idols could go up in the music charts.
One of the K-Pop idols, Block B’s Park Kyung, used to accuse some of other idols of doing sajaegi to gain popularity. Through his official Twitter account, Park Kyung wrote, “I want to do sajaegi like Vibe, like Song Ha-ye, like Lim Jae-hyun, like Jeon Sang-keun, like Jang Deok-cheol, and like Hwang In-wook,” but then the tweet was deleted.
KQ Entertainment, which also Block B’s agency, released an apology statement because of Park Kyung’s tweet. They also said that Park Kyung’s statement was due to the rumors that have been spread in the music industry without checking the facts first. The case has gone into legal action, and KQ Entertainment is still defending its artists even though they said that they would follow all of the processes.
Due to the Park Kyung’s controversial tweet, there have been some parties who were supporting him by streaming his single Inferiority Complex, which was released in 2016, and they successfully made the single rank higher on the Bugs, Melon, and Genie charts, as well as others.
Meanwhile, although the sajaegi scandal has been going on for a long time, it became bigger since 2017. Music critic Kim Jak-ga talked about the scandal. She said that even though there’s no evidence about sajaegi, it has become an open secret in the music industry. There are a lot of artists who were offered to do sajaegi, but the process and the transaction was hidden.
Illegal Gambling Scandal
Next, there’s the illegal gambling scandal in K-Pop entertainment industry! Some K-Pop entertainment agencies were involved with the illegal gambling scandal, one of them was YG Entertainment. Seoul police officers investigated Yang Hyun-suk, the ex-CEO of YG Entertainment at that time. He was accused of illegal gambling involving illicit cash exchange with ex-BIG BANG’s Seungri, as well.
It was also reported that Yang Hyun-suk was allegedly involved with illegal gambling in Macau and Las Vegas since the early 2000s. Since the sexual harassment and drug scandal in Burning Sun, it also lead them toward illegal gambling, as well. Both Seungri and Yang Hyun-suk were investigated by the local police, and the police have been trying to gather evidence about how Yang Hyun-suk was amassing gambling money.
Since gambling is illegal in South Korea, Yang Hyun-suk and Seungri were involved through the gambling in Macau and Las Vegas. They reportedly spent around US $826.000 and US $1.65 million on gambling, respectively.
