which is straight after this programme. music: vvip by seungri ladies and gentlemen... ..introducing. .. in south korea, k—pop stars have fame, fortune and millions of female fans. singing in korean music echoes but some led a double life. a hidden world where videos of women being drugged, raped and humiliated were shared.

rock and roll! cheering their crimes would never have been revealed had secret messages between them not been leaked. this is the story of those who tried to bring them to justice.

the fuse that ignited this scandal was a k—pop star caught secretly filming a woman — a crime known as molka.

jung had risen to fame as a singer songwriter, self—releasing love ballads like �*amy�*. he had an edgier image

than the typical k—pop star. he speaks in korean ..jung joon—young. cheering he was critically acclaimed and hugely popular with female fans.

two days later, jung is questioned by the police. on finding the phone is with a forensics lab, the police asked for a report, rather than looking at the phone themselves.

a recording ofjung's lawyer putting pressure on the forensics lab was later leaked. jung's agency hastily calls a press conference to clear his name.

jung's phone is never checked by the police, and he thinks he is in the clear. what he didn't know is that a carbon copy had been made of his phone data. three years later, someone with access to the data decides to leak it. it eventually reaches journalist kang.

jung's phone data showed he was in a chat group with male friends on popular messengerapp, kakaotalk. the video of kyung—mi wasn't there, but kang did find many other videos ofjung with women... ..and began to recognise other famous faces, too. this video shows jung encouraging a girl to drink alcohol with his fellow k—pop star, choi jung—hoon.

electric guitar plays choi jung—hoon led the k—pop rock band ft island. he played lead guitar, and was given centre stage in their stadium concerts. the biggest celebrity in the chat group was megastar seungri. he had become famous in the k—pop supergroup bigbang, and also had a solo career.

branding himself "thej gatsby of korea", his party lifestyle was recorded in slick promo videos. kang begins going through the kakaotalk messages chronologically, tracking the secret life of the celebrity friends. the data starts in late 2015, as seungri hosts a series of parties to celebrate his birthday. seungri has invited potential business partners,

and warnsjung to be on his best behaviour.

a month later, jung, choi and four other chat group members go skiing in a resort near seoul. this promotional film shows off the five—star facilities. it's in kakaotalk messages from this trip that kang sees evidence of serious sexual assault. at 8pm, a friend of seungri

uploads a video to the chat group to share with seungri, who was not on the trip. the images appear to show the rape of unconscious women by another chat group member, a friend ofjung and choi.

kang begins to see a pattern of abuse. she finds messages from two months later that directly incriminate two of the k—pop stars in sexual crimes. the woman had been gang—raped byjung and choi,

with other friends and members of the chat group present.

as kang trawls further through the kakaotalk messages, she finds clues as to why this group felt above the law.

the friends share this video of seungri with a woman at a party. men laughing shouting in korean seungri's membership of one of the biggest k—pop groups, bigbang, gives him enormous influence.

seungri is using his contacts with police and investors to become a major player in the lucrative business of gangnam nightclubs. according to the kakao chats, someone named the "police prosecutor general" is helping protect their businesses.

singing in korean seungri partners with a rich businessman from the chat group and gets his famous friends involved. within days of the opening, jung was recording molka on the premises, sharing it in a direct message with anotherfriend. it's at this point in time, august 2016, thatjung's phone data ends,

as victim kyung—mi makes her initial complaint of molka, and he gives his phone to the forensics lab. but the police don't check his messages, and he's exonerated. park, who first reported onjung's case, is attacked by his fans and men calling themselves "anti—feminist".

hello there. there'll be winners and losers when it comes to the weather forecast on thursday. for the far north and west, we will continue to see a rash of showers. it will be quite windy with it, as well. sunny spells elsewhere. the winds really quite a feature right across the country, but the strongest of the winds closest to this area of low pressure, driving in a rash of showers, maybe longer spells of rain at times. but elsewhere, particularly where we had quite a lot of cloud and it was drizzly from time to time on wednesday, will be a better story. more in the way of sunshine coming through. so, by the afternoon, expect this story. we will see these showers and, as i say, some of them heavy, the brighter yellows and greens denoting that. and with the strength of the wind as well, well, those temperatures really struggling, ii to 14 or 15 degrees. a few showers into northern

ireland, not quite as many, and a few showers across northern england. but generally across england and wales, there'll be more in the way of sunshine, particularly across southeast england. temperatures peaking at 21 degrees. so that means for wimbledon, it will be a better day. we'll have some sunny spells coming through. by friday, though, once again, a change of fortunes. rain could have a part to play for the outer courts as we go through the day. and the reason being this frontal system that's going to slide in through the latter stages of thursday into friday, bringing more in the way of cloud and showery rain across southwest england during the early hours of friday morning, pushing towards swi9 for the early morning rush hour. but, generally speaking, those temperatures will hold up into double digits to start the day on friday. as we move into friday, then, there will be a good deal of dry, sunny weather really from the m4 corridor south. that's where we'll see the rain. a little more cloud, but generally across england and wales, a good slice of sunshine. a few isolated showers into northwest scotland, but generally

those temperatures — not much change — ranging from 14 to 20 or 21 degrees if we're lucky. into the weekend, the unsettled theme is set to continue. very changeable, the weather story, at the moment. a ridge of high pressure to start saturday, but there'll be more wet weather moving in on sunday. so, for england and wales, perhaps saturday the best day, but elsewhere, we'll see showers or longer spells of rain set to continue and those temperatures disappointing forjuly.

live from washington. this is bbc news.

hurricane beryl lashes jamaica with rain and intense winds — as the country starts to survey the extent of the destruction. us democratic governors vow to stand with us president biden as questions continue about his fitness for office. israel says it's evaluating hamas�*s comments on proposals to free hostages, as the prime minister remains under pressure to end the war in gaza. hurricane beryl is passing by jamaica, with the eye wall brushing the southern coast, bringing with it dangerous high winds, sea surges and a trail of destruction in the eastern caribbean where at least seven people have been killed. currently, beryl is a category four storm — the most intense that jamaica has seen in more than a decade. the national hurricane center

says the storm is bringing winds of around 140 mph or 220 kilometres per hour.