WHEN JANG Ja-yeon killed herself at her home earlier last month, she did more than deprive South Korea of a wildly popular soap star.
In a damning letter naming the men responsible for the distress that may have caused her to take her life aged 26, Jang heaped shame on the country’s entertainment industry with allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation.
In the seven-page letter, written a week before her death, the star of Boys Over Flowers, South Korea's most avidly watched soap opera, chronicled the sexual and other favours she was expected to extend to progress in the cutthroat "Korean Wave" of TV and film.
After making her debut in a 2006 TV commercial, Jang cemented her fame as a vindictive schoolgirl in the soap, and was awaiting the release of her first two films when she died. Almost one million fans visited her website in the 48 hours after her death, on March 7th.
Her allegations, leaked to the media, have prompted an outcry and forced the police to investigate her relationships with several powerful men.
The villain of the piece, according to South Korean reports, is her agent, Kim Sung-hoon, who is now in Japan following accusations he molested a male model. Jang reportedly claimed Kim had regularly beaten her and forced her to have sex with a string of VIPs, including directors, media executives and CEOs. She was also forced to serve and consume drinks and act as an escort at golf matches, she wrote.
When police raided Kim’s office, they discovered a shower and bed in a “secret room” on the third floor.
Kim has proclaimed his innocence, contesting that the letter was part of an attempt by Jang’s former manager, Yoo Jang-ho, to ruin his business. Jang was reportedly in Yoo’s office when she wrote the note, copies of which he passed to her family.
Yoo is now in hospital recovering from a suicide attempt.
While the police investigate, the South Korean media has finally condemned the industry for the way it treats its most marketable – and usually female – talent.
Film and TV viewers are now wondering what part abuse and “slave contracts” played in a spate of celebrity suicides originally put down to the pressures of fame.
Jang’s suicide, initially attributed to lingering depression over her parents’ death in a car crash 10 years ago, is one of several among South Korean entertainers over the past year.
South Korea’s huge online community is still buzzing.
One popular blogger says that many top celebrities, as former employees of seedy hostess clubs, were expected to continue “entertaining” producers and directors.
"In many instances, the prospective star will meet the VIP alone, who hints at casting her, introducing her to another VIP or sponsoring her lavish lifestyle," said the blogger. "It's just hushed up. It's part of the process of being a star." – ( Guardian service)