Results of reinvestigation into 2009 death of actress to be announced in late March

An inquiry team under the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office is scheduled to announce in late March the results of its reinvestigation into the case of actress Jang Ja-yeon, who died 10 years ago after saying she had been sexually abused by influential people in the media, entertainment and business.

Jang was found hanging at her home on March 7, 2009, with a handwritten note that read, “I am a powerless actress. I want to get out of this agony.”

Police concluded at the time that she took her own life due to depression, but they later reopened the case and arrested Jang’s agent, accusing him of forcing Jang to perform sexual favors.

Multiple claims have been made about a list containing names of people with whom Jang was allegedly forced to have sex.

After a monthslong investigation, police sent the case to the prosecution with a recommendation of indicting five people. The prosecution ended up indicting only the head of Jang’s agency, surnamed Kim, for assault and Jang’s manager, surnamed Yoo, for publicly insulting Kim.

The court sentenced Kim to a year in prison, suspended for two years, and Yoo to 160 hours of social service.

Actress Yoon Ji-oh, who has testified as a witness in related police investigations, recently published a book titled “The 13th Testimony,” in which she claims to have seen the names of “three people from a media company with the same last name” in Jang’s four-page note.

Yoon spoke about the matter on several television and radio news shows this week. She said she had seen a then-reporter of Chosun Ilbo surnamed Cho molesting Jang at a birthday party of their agency’s chief on Aug. 5, 2008.

Yoon said Jang’s note looked like a document that could be used in a legal battle, with lists, names and Jang’s thumbprint at the end. She also said Jang’s note mentioned a lawmaker with “a peculiar name.”

In May last year, a special independent panel at the Justice Ministry looking into past cases possibly mishandled by the prosecution recommended the reinvestigation of Jang’s case.

In December, prosecutors grilled Koreana Hotel President Bang Yong-hoon and a few others regarding Jang’s case.



By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)