voice—over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. 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 showsjung encouraging a girl to drink alcohol with his fellow k—pop star, choijung—hoon. electric guitar plays choijung—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, "the jay 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 warns jung 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 another friend.

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. looks like part two of this weekend will be cloudier and as a consequence slightly colder than what we had on saturday. temperatures reaching the mid 20s celsius across the southeast quadrant of england. sunday starts off bright with sunshine in places and it turns cloudy and it will feel cold as well and the reason for it is well and the reason for it is we have this ridge of high pressure which would kill off most of the showers but a run of colder north—westerly winds. sunday starts a bit of brightness around central and southern areas and early showers of the southeast will clear away but as the

temperatures rise epic than the clouds will tend to build up so sunshine will be limited. cloud may be taken up with the odd spot of rain or shower through the spine of the country set up will impact damages ranging from 14 to maybe 19 or 20 degrees in the south. the cloud starts to thin and break as we move to sunday night, widespread clear skies develop god mist patch here and there. the rain started to get to western and northern areas could see a new whether from working its way in but under clear skies it's quite chilly again otherwise under the cloud ten to 12 degrees. we have high pressure sitting down towards the southwest of the atlantic to stop the new week, around the periphery weather fronts will be spinning around and one such fund will be moving to the north and west of the country for monday. we start off chilly but bright for central and is in areas but it won't be long for the cloud to build here and many places our cloudy day with splashes of rain thanks to the weather front pushing their way eastwards, the best of any sunshine will be down towards the southwest quadrant. temperatures cool for the time

of year, 14 to 19 or 20 degrees. as we move out of monday to tuesday looks like the ridge of high pressure will dosein the ridge of high pressure will dose in from the southwest and that should settle things down, i think tuesday to stage not looking too bad. the class will start to build but will continue to stay dry i think for many areas with sunny spells continuing, the odd shower across more exposed western coast exposed to that westerly breeze. temperatures westerly breeze. tem peratu res mid westerly breeze. temperatures mid to high teens for many, probably 20 degrees the warmest spot. wednesday another area of low pressure moving around that area of high so it goes downhill again mid week onwards, rather cloudy skies it will be quite breezy and blustery with that windy for the west of scotland, frequent showers or longer spells a rain and will be showers for western england and wales as well. the best chance of staying dry towards the south—east but the damages 13 to 19 degrees. as day promises to be a brighter day promises to be a brighter day across southern areas closer to the area of high

pressure further north. a low pressure further north. a low pressure anchored to the north of scotland so blustery with showers or longer spells of rain. by the time we reached thursday in the next five days looks like rainfall totals will start to melt up across the northern half of the country, certainly towards western scotla nd certainly towards western scotland and parts of north—west england and northwest wales. central and southern england will see little if any rainfall closer to this area of high pressure but the outlook area into next week and next weekend we see the jet stream across the uk continuing to steer low pressure systems and weather fronts across our shores. there will be rain at times again mostly towards northern and western areas for the south you are closer to that area of high pressure i think a better chance of staying dry but still quite a bit of rain around for northern and western areas. disappointing temperature is for the time of year so no signs of a heat wave on the clouds just yet. take care.

live from london, this is bbc news. voting gets under way in two hours�* time in the first round of france's parliamentary elections. meanwhile, campaigning in the uk enters its closing stages with the general election just days away. it was a sky full of stars for coldplay�*s glastonbury set with hollywood legend michaelj fox joining on guitar. and a glimpse behind the curtain of the british royal family as balmoral opens a guided tourfor the first time. hello. voting in france gets under way in two hours�* time

in france in the first round of parliamentary elections.