Korea has seen a string of tragedies in their entertainment industry. The latest trend is suicide, which has claimed the lives of many entertainers, including Ahn Jae-hwan, Choi Jin-shil, Jang Chae-won, and Kim Ji-hoo in late 2008 alone. Actress Jeong Da-Bin and pop singer Yuni were high-profile suicides from 2007, and 2005’s suicide of Lee Eun-Joo spawned several imitation suicides by fans. Korea’s suicide rate has soared recently, from 11.8 per 100,000 people in 1995 to 26.1 per 100,000 in 2005, and on average 38 people a day take their own lives.

The latest and current most controversial suicide was by actress Jang Ja Yeon. Her death has caused much controversy due to the note she left, where it was alleged she was forced to do sexual favors for producers and other VIPs in the Korean entertainment industry. These allegations have caused the police to start to take notice.

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Her manager speaks out:

Recently deceased Boys Over Flowers actress Jang Ja Yun past and possible reasons for her suicide are beginning to surface.

First it was reported that she died of depression and there were even reports saying that her manager stated she was murdered, well, that might be true… to some extent.

It has now been exposed that the up and coming actress was beaten and forced to sleep with the Production Director (PD). Her manager is now revealing the gruesome first hand accounts of the suffering and assaults against her, despite her family not wanting this information to be leaked. Jang Ja Yun hand wrote documents listing her tragedies. Before her death, she asked her manager to expose the person responsible for her attacks. She told him she didn’t want her family to think she died of just depression but from something far worse.

The manager has yet to reveal more specifics regarding the documents but he did state the contents to be very shocking and disturbing. He only said so far that there were incidents at room saloons and bars, and being forced to sleep with the Dirty Ass PD. Other abuse include being physically beaten with water bottles and receiving threatening text messages. All this abuse took place in the past year and even just a week before she committed suicide, she went to the head of her company to ask for help from the harassment. But she was beaten and told to just endure it.

She confessed in her letters that she was forced to do the dirty deeds, because she had no money and was emotionally weak. Jang Ja Yun’s manager made a public statement that although exposing her truth to the police and media is going against her family’s wishes, he wants to see the person pay / punished for her death.

The manager is cooperating with police to bring the PD in question to justice. Currently, the PD is in Japan (wonder what he’s up to?)…. how convenient.

It’s been reported that the manager has tried to commit suicide also after revealing this statement and is currently hospitalized. He tried to commit suicide to avoid any backlash from exposing the truth about Jang Ja Yun.

The police stepped up and are investigating the management agency, even going so far as to raid their headquarters!

Taken fromSeoulfull:

Police raided the office of the late actress Jang Ja-yeon’s management agency in Seoul amid growing allegations that the office had been used for years as a room for secret entertaining and sexual intercourse between show business VIPs and its actresses.

The Bundang Police Station said investigators arrived at the office in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, at 1 a.m. They confiscated more than 200 documents, surveillance camera records and computer files in a three-hour search of the building. They confirmed the veiled three-story building had a bedroom and shower on the third floor and the first floor was remodeled like an upscale bar.

The raid was aimed at securing evidence backing the late actress’s claims in a suicide note that she was pressured to entertain and have sex with media and corporate executives in exchange for raising her media exposure through their influence, police said.

The investigation was initiated based on her note, but has failed to make substantial progress due to lack of evidence.

“We found a secret room on the third floor, which has a shower and a bed,” chief investigator Oh Ji-yong said. “But how the room was used is yet to be verified.”

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Nearby residents said parking lots in front of the building were packed with luxury sedans almost every night and most lights in and outside the building remained turned on almost every night for a party.
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Police have yet to summon her former manager Yoo Jang-ho for questioning as his attorney asked for a delay, citing health reasons.

Other sources move on from the mysterious rooms thing and call it something worse. They claim they found a freaking brothel!

Police Find ‘Brothel’ at Jang Ja-yeon Management Firm
Bundang police on Sunday raided the management company of the actress Jang Ja-yeon, who committed suicide two weeks ago after alleging the firm pimped her to several influential figures and threatened violence if she refused to have sex with them. Police said they raided a building the company used until December 2008 and confiscated 201 items such as computers and contracts with entertainers.

The fugitive head of the firm, identified as Kim, bought the building in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, in August 2005, and used it as his office until October 2008. It had two stories at the time of purchase, but Kim added a floor and kitted it out as what looks like a brothel. The ground floor was used as a wine bar, the middle floor as office, and the top floor has a bedroom, shower and karaoke facilities, the police said.

Police suspect it was there that Jang was forced to serve drinks, act as an escort and have sex with media executives, CEOs, producers and politicians who would help boost her career.

The management agency is not going down without a fight

Police said they obtained the list of names mentioned in the document but would decide on making them public after confirming whether the document in question is “authentic.”

The police searched nine places including Jang’s former and current agencies and her residence and seized the document from a broadcasting station, Saturday. The document will first go through a graphology test to confirm her handwriting and then police will investigate the content.

The letter also had some 10 names of program directors and other VIPs, but the police said they must conduct further investigation to verify the credibility of the document before summoning those mentioned.

“The document had thumbprints and a social security number and seems to have been written by Jang,” a police officer said.
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However, police said they are not sure whether the document they have found is the one Yoo disclosed and presumed the possibility of the existence of more than one document. Yoo said he burnt the letter in front of Jang’s family and does not have any copies of the letter.

Kim Sung-hoon, head of Jang’s last agency, was quoted as claiming that the documents are fabricated, adding that Jang’s former manager “fabricated” the letters out of his disgruntlement over four criminal and civil lawsuits filed against him.

Meanwhile, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will provide standardized contract forms to entertainment agencies in the first half of the year.

“Jang’s letter aroused concern toward the unfairness of entertainers’ contracts once again,” a FTC official said. “We found several unfair contracts at big agencies last year, but it’s almost impossible to investigate hundreds of small- and medium-sized companies.”

The FTC will continuously supervise management agencies to rid them of unfair contracts in addition to the enforcement of standard contract terms.

The head of the management company has agreed to meet the police

The head of the talent agency that was managing actress Jang Ja-yeon at the time of her suicide has said he will turn himself in for police questioning tomorrow.

The Bundang Police Precinct in Gyeonggi announced yesterday that if Yoo Jang-ho does not show up, they will consider filing for an arrest warrant against him. Yoo missed a police request to appear on Saturday.

This whole situation is tragic, but it might be the event needed to change the way the entertainment industry operates for the better, and to provide for better treatment of people suffering from depression.