Cornell and Burning Sun: What's behind the comparisons?

SEATTLE — The sexual assault allegations involving seven current and former Cornell University students are drawing comparisons to Korea’s Burning Sun scandal, with parallels focusing on private group chats, male group dynamics and questions of institutional accountability.

The Cornell case centers on allegations that a female student was drugged and sexually assaulted by multiple members of the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024. A civil lawsuit filed last month names seven current and former students, including Winston Lee, whose ties to Korea have drawn particular attention in Korean and Korean American online communities.

Burning Sun erupted in 2019 as one of Korea’s most notorious scandals in recent years, growing from allegations surrounding a Seoul nightclub into a sprawling case involving prostitution, sexual violence, illegally filmed and disseminated sexual videos, gambling and allegations of police corruption.

Min Joo Lee, an assistant professor of Asian studies at Occidental College whose research includes gender and sexuality in South Korea, told The Korea Times that the two cases appear to share several common factors, based on information available through news reports.

“There does seem to be some parallels between the two cases in that there is a group of alleged perpetrators instead of one ‘bad apple,’” Lee said. “The institutions initially failed the victims before the media limelight and public furor. Private chats were integral to the planning of the violence.”

As Lee noted, one of the most visible parallels is the role of private group chats.

Burning Sun-related investigations exposed group chats in which celebrities and others shared illegally filmed sexual videos and made degrading comments about women.

In the Cornell case, the lawsuit cites messages from a fraternity Snapchat group called “Chi Phi Actives.” The plaintiff alleges the messages were exchanged as she was being drugged and sexually assaulted at the fraternity house.

Questions over institutional accountability have also emerged, with Cornell saying it investigated the allegations through its internal disciplinary process and imposed sanctions that included expulsions and suspensions. Local prosecutors initially declined to pursue criminal charges but reopened the investigation after the civil lawsuit brought renewed attention to the allegations.

These similarities have not gone unnoticed online.

“This whole story reminds me of the Burning Sun scandal,” one Reddit user wrote, while criticizing what the user described as broader problems surrounding violence against women in South Korea.

Another commenter invoked Burning Sun while arguing that punishments in some of South Korea’s high-profile sexual crime cases have been too lenient.

Lee cautioned, however, against drawing definitive parallels, noting that the Cornell case remains an ongoing legal case and investigation and that the circumstances surrounding the two cases are different.

Burning Sun ultimately led to multiple criminal investigations and convictions. The Cornell case remains under investigation, and the allegations against the defendants have not been proven in court.