The police have prohibited BIGBANG’s Seungri from leaving the country after booking him for allegedly providing sexual escort services for foreign investors.

On March 11, The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency banned Seungri from leaving the country after booking him, meaning that his status was changed from that of a target of investigation (the stage before someone becomes a suspect in Korean criminal law) to that of a suspect.

Because Seungri will be enlisting in the army on March 25, the police is planning to speed up the investigation.

All of this begins with SBS funE’s report on February 26, where they released text messages that were allegedly shared between Seungri, CEO Yoo of Yuri Holdings, and an employee in 2015. The contents of the messages implied that they were hiring prostitutes at Club Arena (a club located in the Gangnam district) for foreign business investors, and both YG and Yuri Holdings denied the claims in separate statements. One day later, Seungri underwent questioning at the police station and shared his willingness to cooperate with any further questioning.

On March 10, the police searched Club Arena, and later in the day, Seungri, along with three to four other people in the KakaoTalk group chat, were booked for aiding in providing sexual escort services.

Source (1) via Soompi

Following recent controversies, BIGBANG’s Seungri has announced his retirement.

On March 11, he shared the following statement on Instagram:

This is Seungri.

At this point, I think it would be best if I retire from the entertainment industry. I decided on retiring from the entertainment industry as the issues that I caused a societal disturbance with are too major. Regarding the issues that are being investigated, I will be investigated diligently and reveal all the suspicions.

Receiving criticism and hate from the public for the past month and a half and with the situation of all the investigative agencies in the country currently investigating me, I am even being cornered as a traitor of the nation. I personally cannot tolerate causing harm to everyone around me in order to save myself.

I sincerely thank all of the fans in and outside of Korea who have given me lots of love for the past 10 years, and I think this is where I stop even if it’s at least [to protect] the honor of YG and BIGBANG.

Again, I am sorry and apologize once again.

I have been thankful to everyone until now.

Source: Soompi

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승리입니다 제가 이시점에서 연예계를 은퇴를하는것이 좋을거같습니다. 사회적 물의를 일으킨 사안이 너무나 커 연예계 은퇴를 결심했습니다 수사중인 사안에 있어서는 성실하게 조사를 받아 쌓인 모든 의혹을 밝히도록 하겠습니다. 지난 한달반동안 국민들로부터 질타받고 미움받고 지금 국내 모든 수사기관들이 저를 조사하고 있는 상황에서 국민역적 으로까지 몰리는 상황인데 저 하나 살자고 주변 모두에게 피해주는일은 도저히 제스스로가 용납이 안됩니다 지난 10여 년간 많은 사랑을 베풀어준 국내외 많은 팬분들께 모든 진심을 다해 감사드리며 와이지와 빅뱅 명예를 위해서라도 저는 여기까지인거같습니다 다시한번 죄송하고 또 죄송합니다 그동안 모든분들께 감사했습니다

A post shared by @ seungriseyo on Mar 11, 2019 at 1:39am PDT