Police in South Korea has obtained confirmation that actress Jang Ja Yeon was sexually assaulted. The violence against her was the reason why she developed depression that pushed her to take her own life in 2009.
According to KBS, her former manager, who was only identified as Yoo, attested that the South Korean star wrote the names of those who assaulted her in a document. Yoo also said that Jang wrote a detailed account of her rape, but he advised the actress to tone it down.
There were different drafts of the Jang Ja Yeon document, according to AllKPop. Actress Yoon Ji Oh, who was close friends with Jang, also confirmed that this list had at least 40 to 50 names, which included big wigs in the entertainment industry, a few journalists and someone from the National Assembly.
However, Yoon's testimony about the document lent some doubts after two other witnesses said they never saw this paper, according to Soompi. Yoon also testified on the case after Jang's death, but she never mentioned knowing anything about the list until this came out in the recent investigations.
The actress, who is currently based in Canada, also could not properly identify the politician implicated in the list even as she was sure the name was there. Allegedly, investigators showed her a photo of the assemblyman, but Yoon did not think this was the person that Jang identified.
Jang earned international fame for her work in the South Korean television show Boys Over Flowers. She was diagnosed with clinical depression a year before her death and was getting treatments from it.
The actress, whose parents died in 1999, was living with the siblings who found her hanging from their banister. Her death was ruled out as a suicide due to depression.
Kim Sung-hoon, the CEO of Jang's former management company, was arrested in Japan following the actress' suicide. He pimped the actress to VIPs and was sentenced to a year in jail, community service and a couple of years of probation. Seven other names were implicated in Jang's death. However, it was recently determined that the first investigation to the case was corrupted, in light of the sexual abuse allegations.
The Committee of Past Affairs has also requested to launch a full-blown re-investigation into the Jang's sexual assault through the Ministry of Justice because of its link to politicians. However, the police are unsure how the case could progress since no other victim can come forward and there's no concrete evidence aside from the alleged document.
