South Korea's human rights watchdog plans to launch an investigation into the human rights conditions of female entertainers following the recent suicide of an actress believed to have been sexually exploited, Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday.
In an announcement of its investigation plan for 2009, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea said it will launch the probe into the working conditions of female entertainers as early as June.
The announcement comes amid an ongoing police investigation into the death of Jang Ja-yeon, the 30-year-old television actress, last month. Jang allegedly killed herself after her agent forced her to provide sexual and other favors to several high-powered entertainment figures and journalists.
The commission, in a statement, estimated that many other actresses were exposed to threats of sexual exploitation within the entertainment industry. It also suspected that most of them were uninsured and underpaid.
"There hasn't been a systematic case study of rights conditions for female entertainers so far," the commission said.
The study, expected to be wrapped up by the end of the year, is intended to serve as a supplement in creating policies to improve rights protection for the broader entertainment industry, it said.
The commission also plans to conduct studies in other human rights-related areas, including gathering of private information and the rights of the homeless and the aged population.
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