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| Singer Kim Gun-mo arrives at the Gangnam Police Office in southern Seoul for an interrogation session, Wednesday./ Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
Southern Seoul Police questioned singer Kim Gun-mo, Wednesday, over an allegation that he sexually assaulted a hostess bar employee in August 2016.
The 52-year-old singer showed up at the Gangnam Police Office, refusing to answer any questions from journalists.
The alleged victim filed a criminal complaint against him. "Kim has neither admitted to nor apologized for the offense, and the victim is still suffering," the plaintiff's lawyer Kang Yong-suk said on her behalf at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor' Office, Dec. 9.
On another occasion, the lawyer described how the assault happened. "Kim came to a hostess bar in Gangnam by himself, wearing a Batman T-shirt. After drinking with eight hostesses in a room, Kim made them all leave except the alleged victim and forced himself on her."
Kim denied the accusation and claimed the alleged victim was making a false statement against him. He filed a countersuit for defamation.
On Jan. 8, the police raided Kim's vehicle and took the GPS records.
The allegation came right after Kim announced that he would marry pianist Jang Ji-yeon, 13 years his junior and has taken a toll on his personal life and career.
SBS announced that Kim has been kicked off a reality television show that he was on since 2016.
Debuting in 1992, Kim is one of Korea's most successful singers with popular songs including "Wrongful Encounter" (1995) and "The Moon of Seoul" (2005). Since 2016, the reality show "My Little Old Boy" has been featuring the singer with his mother Lee Sun-mi. In the show, he described himself as a "free-spirited" single man.
In October, he made the wedding announcement and revealed that the two had already been married legally but have delayed the wedding ceremony until May. Despite the assault allegations, Kim pushed ahead with his scheduled year-end solo concert "Kim Gun-mo 25th Anniversary Tour" in Incheon last year.
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