BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts

You're listening to Intrigue from BBC Radio 4. This is Burning Sun.

Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts.

But if you're in the UK, the whole series is available right now, first on BBC Sounds.

One thing before we start, all the interviews and some of the clips in this podcast were in Korean.

So the voices you're here are actors, but their words are real.

Here's time for Big Bang!

Big Bang, one of the first capo packs to break into the global market.

At one time, they were one of the most successful bands on the planet.

Just listen to the crowd go mad at Wembley Stadium.

You know, when Big Bang turned up, they could fill up huge stadiums with fans and they wear a group that yielded a lot of power and influence.

Kang's an entertainment reporter. She's been following Big Bang for years, but it's one specific member of the group I want to tell you about.

Sung Lee, because he's a major part of the story Kang's been investigating, preparing for publication.

She's been pouring over chat rooms on Popstar Chun's phone.

In group messages on there, she's seen celebrities sharing secretly filmed sex videos and photos.

Sung Lee is one of the celebrities in those chat rooms.

And he's one of the world's biggest K-pop stars, loved by so many for his clean cut good looks and cheeky style.

But that wasn't enough for Sung Lee. He didn't want to stop there. There was this whole world he wanted to pursue.

Dejing at clubs, hosting extremely luxurious parties. He kept flaunting himself.

He does well as a solo artist. He's also in TV dramas, theatre, movies. He owns bars, noodle franchises, and he's the face of Tinder in Korea.

Then in 2018, he and some friends open a hugely popular nightclub in Seoul, burning sun.

It's like Sung Lee and Habits this pristine showbiz bubble, shiny and perfect, somehow separate from the real world.

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