Rapper Zico’s agency KOZ Entertainment is pursuing legal action against malicious posts and comments spreading allegedly false rumors of the rapper stealing singer Koo Ha-ra’s safe.

"We have collected posts and comments from various online communities and social media to file reports to the authorities," the agency said through a community notice on Zico's Weverse page on Monday. "We also want to clarify that the recent rumors related to the artist are not true and that we will respond strongly to them."

Rapper and producer Zico was mired in controversy when SBS investigative program “Unanswered Questions,” (1992-) released a montage on Saturday of a thief stealing a safe from late singer Koo Ha-ra’s house, who was an integral part in the investigation of the infamous Burning Sun entertainment industry sex solicitation and corruption scandal of 2019.

Some netizens in online communities began to theorize that the thief was Zico, pointing out alleged similarities between the rapper and the person in the video.

This is not Zico’s first entanglement with the scandal — the singer has already been in hot water for his comments on MBC talk show “Radio Star” in 2016. Zico appeared on the show with now-convicted rapist and key figure of the Burning Sun scandal, Jung Joon-young, and rapper joked with the singer about a “golden phone” that Jung uses only for “emergency purposes.”

Jung was later convicted of illegally filming women in a sexually explicit manner and sharing them in a KakaoTalk chatroom without consent in 2020. Zico was brought under suspicion by the public of having known Jung’s criminal behavior beforehand and watching illegally filmed sex videos with the convicted rapist.

Zico strongly denied the allegations, uploading a post on his Instagram story stating that the “golden phone” story was “completely unrelated to the situation,” and that he would pursue “strong action” against malicious posts and comments.

With the newly released montage, comments online began insinuating that Zico was indeed involved with the case. As of Monday, comments under Zico’s recent Instagram posts say, “What were you doing when Koo’s safe was being stolen,” “Was the golden phone entertaining,” “Is it you” and “Safe thief?”

"We have observed that slanderous, insulting and false information about our artist Zico has been indiscriminately posted on various online communities and social media," said KOZ Entertainment. "Spreading malicious rumors and false information, which are clearly unrelated to the artist, have become so severe that they cannot be overlooked, and we have decided that strong legal actions are urgently needed."

The agency announced in the post that it is collecting tips from fans and others to document the comments online and use them as evidence to report to authorities.

"Your attention and reports are greatly helpful in our legal actions," the agency said, directly addressing Zico’s fans. "If you come across any malicious posts or illegal activities related to the artist, please actively report them to the KOZ Entertainment's official legal response account. Thank you."

To find out more about Zico, visit Celeb Confirmed!


BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]