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No proof of sex-for-advancement found as police hand over the case
April 25, 2009
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| After more than a month of investigation into the suicide of actress Jang Ja-yeon, police announced their interim report on the case, accusing eight men of forcing the young woman to serve them drinks and harassing her. One additional man was accused of defaming a suspect in the case. Following the 30-year-old actress’s suicide on March 7, the Bundang Police Precinct investigated a series of allegations concerning her suicide. The police charges come after an investigation into entertainment and financial industry figures, including Jang’s former manager. “We have investigated a total of 20 people and decided to press charges against nine of them,” said Han Poong-hyun, the chief of the Bundang Police Precinct, at a media conference yesterday. “Cases against them were handed over to the prosecution for further legal action. For some of the remaining 11, we told the prosecution that no indictments are necessary, and for others, we’ll halt the investigation for the time being until the primary suspect who is at large is arrested.” Police said the investigators were unable to confirm that Jang was forced to have sex to advance her career, an allegation that had shaken the nation in the weeks following her death. “Jang wrote in her letters that she was forced to have sex, but the suspects strongly denied that they had done so,” said Lee Myeong-gyun from the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency. “Therefore, we had no way to further verify the allegations.” Among the nine men accused of wrongdoing were three entertainment agency officials, two producers, three financial industry officials and a head of an IT company. Kim Sung-hoon, head of Jang’s management company, was accused of assaulting her. He was also accused of coercing Jang to serve drinks to influential businessmen, police said. The alleged exploitation and assaults took place in Kim’s office and bars in the southern Seoul area. The police also said Kim is accused of embezzling money. While serious accusations were made against Kim, he was never questioned by the police. Kim fled to Japan on Dec. 2 and has yet to return to Korea. A local court issued a warrant to arrest Kim on April 3, but he has not cooperated with the summons from law enforcement. Police also asked the prosecution to further investigate six additional men as accessories to Kim’s coercion of the late actress. Two finance officials, a businessman, two producers and a talent management agency official were accused of taking part in Kim’s crimes. In addition, another finance official was accused of harassing Jang, police said. “A fellow actress of Jang, who had attended a drinking event with Jang and the suspect, testified that he had acted inappropriately,” Ha said. While the witness identified the financier as the suspected harasser, he denied the accusation by saying that her testimony has been inconsistent. At first, the witness identified the head of an Internet media firm as the suspect, but later changed her account and identified the financier. In a separate but related case, Yoo Jang-ho, the head of Jang’s management agency at the time of her suicide, was accused of defaming Kim. The police said Kim’s lawyer had filed a defamation complaint against Yoo. The police said Yoo remains in custody and they will ask the prosecutors to further investigate the matter. Yoo was accused of defaming Kim by telling the media that Jang had written letters before her death to complain about Kim’s treatment. Kim had argued that such a leak to the media defamed his reputation. Of the 11 other people who had been questioned, the police left the case open for at least four of them. “The four had met with Jang at least once, so we want to investigate them further after Kim is arrested,” said Lee from the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency. In addition, police said they found accusations against four other people to have been groundless. One of them is the president of a major newspaper company. Jang’s family filed a defamation suit against the media industry official, but police said Jang must have mistakenly mentioned the man in her letters. By Jang Joo-young, Lee Min-yong [smartpower@joongang.co.kr] |
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