Don Mills and wife share more about the Bassagong chatroom sexual harassment incident; chatroom screenshots revealed
Don Mills and his wife ‘A’ reveal more about the incident in an exclusive interview with SBS Entertainment News. This is a full translation of the interview article dated 15 July 2022.
Need to catch up on what happened? Read the full story here.
- Last updated 18 July 2022
Trigger Warnings: Sex crime , sexual violence , sexual harassment , suicide , suicidal thoughts , self-harm , cutting , miscarriages , overdose , mental illness , PTSD , depression
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“I was the subject of (their) lewd jokes, an ‘appetiser’ for drinks”... Rapper Bassagong’s chatroom sexual harassment incident
“Since he just released his album, he must have brought with him a girl who does (sexual favours).”
‘A’, a woman in her 30’s, has opened up about the tragedy she is facing after coming across a certain KakaoTalk chatroom 3 years ago.
The day after rapper Bassagong (Kim Jin-woo, 37 years old) had released his album ‘TANG-A’ was 19 July 2018. At that time, ‘A’ was dating Bassagong and they had visited Gangneung, Gangwon-do for their first trip. At around 1:00 AM, while ‘A’ was asleep, Bassagong had taken photos of her with some areas of her chest and her face exposed. He proceeded to share the photos to a chatroom with almost 20 people in it.
Bassagong was alone doing a live broadcast with his social media account while ‘A’ was asleep. He flew into panic when ‘A’ had made some sounds in her sleep and he hurriedly ended the live broadcast. He then sent the message “I’ve never been so flustered” to a chatroom with his friends in it. In response, one rapper from Legit Goons wrote “porn video style,” and another rapper wrote “thought you booked a ‘business trip prostitute’” and laughed.
19 July 2018
Bassagong
LOL, f*ck I’ve never been so flustered
Yellow Rapper
F*ck LOL
Green Rapper
Haha
Yellow Rapper
I’m still laughing hahaha lmaoooo
Green Rapper
Haha
Yellow Rapper
You’re doing this the porn video style hahahahaha
Green Rapper
You suddenly ended it halfway, so it seemed even more suspicious
Yellow Rapper
Lmao
Green Rapper
Thought you booked a ‘business trip prostitute’ lol
Bassagong
(Image)
Bassagong
I was f*cking perplexed lmao
Green Rapper
LOL
Bassagong
She was sleeping soundly and f*ck she suddenly spoke to me
Blue User #1
Lmaoooooo
Bassagong
I was screaming aaaaack!!! internally;:: F*ck;;
Blue User #2
Haha, you got caught while livestreaming? Hah
Bassagong
Got caught, LOL
Blue User #1
LOL
Bassagong
She suddenly woke up and spoke to me hahahaha
Green Rapper
She’s not the same girl from last time huh
Blue User #2
So who is she?
Bassagong
Who dates girls … for more than a week …
Blue User #2
Is she a woman from Yangyang1? Hah
Green Rapper
Since he just released his album, he must have brought with him a girl who does (sexual favours)
Bassagong
… these days?
Blue User #3
Lmaooooooo f*ck hahahah why would you do a livestream over there?
Bassagong
Hey you d*ckhead just get out of here, the bosses are speaking
Blue User #1
Lmaoooooooo you live such an enjoyable life, Bassagong
Brown User
Lmaoooooo this is f*cking hilarious
18 July 2018 (The day ‘TANG-A’ was released)
Bassagong
고보*에 코보*에 정신이 없네~2
Blue User #2
(You) went alone?
Blue User #3
Hah
Purple User
Funny if (you) went alone, (she) must have failed
(Omitted)
Bassagong
You guys know any “kissing rooms”3 in this area?
Yellow Rapper
(Image)
Orange User
Lmao
Bassagong
Why isn’t the “condition girl”4 here yet? I’m feeling pretty urgent, hehe
Orange User
Lmaooooo “condition girl”
3. A “kissing room” is exactly what it sounds like: A red-light establishment.
4. “Condition girl” is a direct translation of “jo-geon-nyeo”, referring to women working in prostitution, and are mostly unrelated to any red-light establishments. They engage in “conditional/compensated meeting” (“jo-geon man-nam”) for sex. It is another form of illegal prostitution in South Korea.
Without her consent, Bassagong had shared photos revealing several areas of ‘A’s body including her thighs and arms, and parts of her chest, to the chatroom. The side of her face and the tattoo on her body were exposed. One of his friends in the chatroom saw the photo and wrote “she’s not the girl from last time huh,” and proceeded to comment that “since he just released his album, he must have brought a girl who does (sexual favours).” Another of his friends wrote “Hyung, are you also having sex today?”, making the assumption that the photos of ‘A’ were sexually suggestive. Bassagong had been referring to ‘A’ as “condition girl” even before she arrived at their destination. All of the people discussing in the chatroom at that time were members of Legit Goons.
It was about four months later in November 2018 when ‘A’ discovered the lewd conversation between Bassagong and his friends, as well as the photos of herself which she had never consented to.
Coincidentally, ‘A’ had found those in her husband’s smartphone. He is rapper Don Mills (Hwang Dong-hyeon, 35 years old).
‘A’ says that “Bassagong and I broke up around one week after the Gangneung trip. Two months later, rapper Cheetah had introduced me to my current husband and we began dating seriously. My husband had me safekeep his smartphone when he had to enlist for military service, and that was where I had chanced upon the chatroom with almost 20 members in it. I found photos of myself, as well as words I could not bear to say. My husband did not check through the hundreds of messages that were sent to the chatroom, and he did not see the photos of me. But I struggled from the embarrassment and shame, so much that I had attempted suicide. I suffered from alopecia, and I gained wounds that I couldn’t just wash away. After my husband saw the photos, he left the chatroom immediately. He wanted to let me have faith in him, so he applied for leave (from military service) and we registered our marriage. My husband and certain people in the chatroom were absolutely not at fault, so I couldn’t even report Bassagong to the police in case they got into trouble simply for being in the chatroom.”
She had decided to keep the incident buried within her heart, but revealed that she “couldn’t help but feel anxious in case somebody remembered seeing the photos or had them saved,” even after the two had become man and wife.
The incident that she had kept under wraps and continued to worry about had finally come to light 3 years later. In April this year, Bassagong had revealed on the YouTube series ‘바퀴달린 입 (Agari Fighters)’ that he was “dating women (he) met via direct messages,” and that “if my friend were dating my ex-girlfriend, I’d tell him. That I went on a 2 day 1 night trip with her, and if he asks how ‘far’ did we go I’d tell him that we had sex.” ‘A’ couldn’t help but feel that he drew reference to her when saying that.
“My husband definitely gave Bassagong a stern warning one year ago. After finding out that Bassagong was telling everybody that he was once in a relationship with me, my husband asked him to stop doing so. Despite so, I saw the way he made such a reference on that show and couldn’t endure it any further. I decide to share on my social media account saying that it happened to my friend, with the intent to tell him to be cautious. I was really scared that my husband and I would get our identities exposed, so I couldn’t even name Bassagong. I didn’t even sue him. Because I could be specified and revealed to be a victim. So, despite my struggles, I simply wanted an apology from him and achieve a written agreement between my side and his management. But Bassagong announced that he would turn himself in to the police out of the blue, and there he went.”
After Bassagong’s unexpected action, ‘A’ was the target of extreme hate comments. Bassagong’s music label had alleged that “Bassagong had already apologised 4 or 5 times, and has made an agreement,” and even gave pressure saying that “we also have a playing card (to ‘A’s disadvantage) in our possession”. Worse still, a German woman who is a friend of the CEO of Bassagong’s music label had exposed ‘A’s identity on her social media. She also criticised ‘A’ by writing, “I totally understand that you couldn’t reveal the fact that the victim is yourself, due to the double standards you’re placing on the problematic photo of yourself.”
Don Mills says, “a week before this interview (30 June), my wife had attempted suicide. My wife was diagnosed to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress. I went out to exercise for an hour, and that happened during the time while I was outside. She even wrote a will. Thank goodness my wife had come to her senses. I am anxious and restless every single day that something bad will happen to my wife as soon as I leave her for a bit.”
Medical Certificate dated 8 June 2022
Diagnosis
Post-traumatic stress disorder, moderate depressive episodes
Current treatment and opinion on future treatments
Proceeding the preliminary medical examination on 24 May 2022, the patient is diagnosed with the above. Today on 8 June 2022, the patient has been attending talking therapy and has been prescribed medicine regularly since. The patient’s key symptoms include having painful memories due to traumatic events, acute stress, anxiety and fear, intermittent panic attacks, insomnia, depression, suicidal impulse, eating disorder etc., and will continue to require psychological therapy and medicine for an indefinite period of time.
Purpose
For submission to a law enforcement agency
Medical Certificate dated 30 June 2022
Diagnosis (Clinical Diagnosis)
Addiction to sleeping pills named ’NOS’, addiction to unspecified antidepressants, history of suicide attempts
Current treatment and opinion on future treatments
The above patient was admitted to this hospital’s emergency room with the above diagnosis and received treatment.
Purpose
For submission to the court
Photo taken in March 2020
‘A’ has confessed that her psychological struggle had only worsened after Bassagong’s apology. Bassagong, who claimed that he would apologise to her, had deleted the letter of apology, uploaded for formalities, from his social media account a few days later. He also uploaded a video containing lyrics that went “Yangyang, I am confident, I am the best, I am respectable, you are patted on the butt, my future is bright,” where he also removed due to a complaints lodged by Don Mills’ music label. Bassagong was also part of Legit Goons’ new album and music video, both which were released this month.
‘A’ says that it is “excruciating to keep living while labelled as a victim of a sex crime for the rest of my life. Actually, I suffered from my second miscarriage in May due to bloody discharge. My mother-in-law assured that it’s alright, that none of this is my fault, but I feel too ashamed to even meet her. I also apologise to my father who is currently in a nursing hospital due to his terminal cancer. He sees everything, including the way those “tow trucks”5 on YouTube call me a “degenerate” or a “gold digger”, and even comments of violent nature mocking my husband. The process of having to explain this situation personally is extremely painful and embarrassing.”
5. Tow truck (cyber “wreck-car”) is a negative term referring to social media channels that quickly summarise big scandals and controversies happening in real-time, and even include criticism in their videos. Like an “opinion driver”, they “drive at full speed to the accident scene” to “pick up” news.The Seoul Mapo Police Station is investigating Bassagong in suspicion of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes. ‘A’ has appointed an attorney to represent her in court, and intends to take additional legal action against the people who made insults about her after seeing the photos of her in the chatroom.
When SBS Entertainment News reached out to Bassagong for comment, he replied: “I have no comments.”
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Additional information from ‘A’
OP
Noonim, should I remove Nucksal and Code Kunst from my playlists?
‘A’
Nope; Nucksal, Code Kunst, Deepflow and (Don) Mills oppa were people who helped me out. I swear!
OP
Please hang in there, I’m rooting for you.
OP
May I share this conversation? It seems like many people are having misunderstandings.
‘A’
Where (will you share this)? Feel free to do so.
OP
If posting this to an online community is too much for you, I’ll just share this with my friends.
‘A’
... isn’t he turning himself in for show? The Legit Goons members were all lying, Lee Ha-neul said that we had a settlement but he was also lying. And that was why... I/We had absolutely no choice but to do this...
‘A’
When Bassagong went to turn himself in, he had already appointed an attorney. They went to the Ilsan Dongbu (Police Station), where a certain team leader acquainted with Lee Ha-neul is at... Is that really “turning yourself in”? He didn’t even submit his smartphone...
‘A’
I heard that Lee Ha-neul told Sang-gu oppa (Deepflow) that he had “nothing more to lose,” and “the victim or what, let’s expose everything.” I didn’t want to reveal that fact, so my statement(s) were uploaded after obtaining approval from them.
‘A’
My statement(s) were also...
OP
I hope that you can get through this rough time.
‘A’
... approved by Legit Goons before I uploaded. Otherwise they’d expose the fact that I was the victim, threatening me.
OP
Oh my...
‘A’
That ‘Germany Unni’ person, she’s actually Lee Ha-neul’s girlfriend. And in the end, she exposed the fact that I was the victim.
OP
Ah...