Thursday, June 25, 2009

Japanese Police Arrest Late Actress Jang's Ex-Manager


Kim Sung-hoon, head of the late actress Jang Ja-yeon's former management agency, was apprehended in Japan, police said Wednesday.

Kim has been placed on wanted list on suspicious of forcing obscure actresses including Jang to provide sexual favors to showbiz VIPs.

Gyeonggi provincial police said the 42-year-old was caught at a Japanese hotel Wednesday afternoon by police that were tipped off his presence.

Kim has been staying in Japan, defying repeated requests to return to Seoul for questioning.

He left the country after Jang was found dead in an apparent suicide in March, leaving after a letter containing names of public figures who allegedly had sexual relations with the 30-year-old in exchange for raising her media exposure.

Kim has been suspected of masterminding behind such deals.

"It will take about two months for Kim to return to Korea", a police officer said. "Once his arrival, we will resume the stalemated investigation into figures allegedly involved in the scandal".

Following her death, police launched a large-scale investigation, pledging to discover who had received such nasty favors from the actress regardless of their social positions.

Police concluded the investigation in April. They booked nine people out of the 20 questioned but failed to identify who the late actress was forced to provide entertainment and sexual intercourse to.

None of the corporate figures and media executives suspected of having sex with the late Jang have been booked. At that time, police said they were unable to find concrete evidence to the claim that the late actress was forced to provide sex in completing their investigation.

Jang hanged herself at her house in Bundang, south of Seoul, on March 7.

A few days later, her agent disclosed a seven-page suicide note, supposedly written by Jang, which stated that a former agent had forced her to provide sex and entertainment to several VIPs, including CEOs of two print and online media organizations, program directors and a bank CEO. The other bigwigs allegedly include owners and presidents of chaebol.

Source: koreatimes.co.kr

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