Korean YouTuber Stephanie Soo seemingly defends convicted sexual assaulter Kim Sang-Kyo in latest video about Burning Sun
In a video uploaded to her YouTube channel, Rotten Mango, popular YouTuber Stephanie Soo denied the criminal actions of Burning Sun whistleblower Kim Sang-Kyo, despite his recent conviction for sexual assault in Burning Sun.
The video, titled ‘K-pop Stars Opened a Night Club to Drug & Sell Women to Overseas Investors,’ has accumulated over one million views since release. Soo’s aim in publishing the video appears to be to bring attention to the Burning Sun scandal, which broke in 2019 and led to multiple convictions of Korean entertainers and business tycoons.
Though many of the stories which Soo references cannot be denied, she appears to pick and choose which victims she wants to believe. Soo’s hypocrisy can be seen at around the one-hour mark of the nearly two-hour long video, where she referred to the victims’ stories as “random reports.” In response, her co-host can also be heard saying, “Wow, they are really just fabricating a whole reality…” Soo then openly agreed with this statement and replied, “Yeah. And it’s working.”
Soo’s denial of the incident came after a long-winded description of how the Burning Sun scandal erupted. According to Soo, employees of the club were accused of committing physical assault against the whistleblower, Kim Sang-Kyo, who visited the club that night as a customer. At the time, Kim had alleged that he was trying to save a woman from being sexually assaulted at the club but was impeded by club employees, who Soo alleged were facilitating a trafficking ring in Burning Sun.
However, it was later revealed that Kim’s claims were not entirely true, after CCTV clips were revealed of him sexually assaulting a female club goer that same night. Despite Kim’s claims of trying to be a hero, it turned out that Kim himself was actually a perpetrator. As Soo reports, there was a lot of denial of Kim’s true actions at the time. But despite the nationwide campaign to gaslight the victim, Kim was eventually convicted for his sexual deviance by a South Korean lower court on November 8th 2022.
Soo went on to further gaslight one of the victims by claiming that she was an employee of Burning Sun and that she had only come forward after the scandal had erupted. However, according to the victim herself, she had already filed a report since December 21st 2018, a month before the incident gained any attention. The victim had also revealed that Kim Sang Kyo’s claim about trying to help a woman was false and that he had also lied about police collusion and assault.
Considering the fact that Kim’s behaviour can be verified by a publicly-accessible CCTV video and a court conviction, Soo’s attempted gaslighting of the victim remains unsupported. Although Soo can be given the benefit of the doubt that she may have overlooked this detail, it is highly implausible that she and her entire team missed this crucial fact that is easily discoverable by a simple Google search of Kim Sang-Kyo’s name. With all that considered, Soo’s defensive attitude to Kim’s actions — whatever her motive may be — is irresponsible.
Such blatant hypocrisy calls into question Soo’s true motive of publishing the video. She seems to be one of the many YouTubers whose thirst for clicks has shrouded her ability to maintain her responsibility to be truthful to her audience. And by doing so, she and many others have gone as far as denying the experiences of victims because it conflicts with the narrative they wish to sell. It is becoming more and more clear that when it comes to Burning Sun, the pervasive attitude among YouTubers seems to be: Believe women… except when it inconveniences us.
