Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Lawmakers look into sex abuse case involving late actress
Yoon Ji-oh, third from right, a key witness to late actress Jang Ja-yeon's sex abuse case, speaks during a meeting with lawmakers at the National Assembly, Monday. Ruling and opposition party lawmakers pledged to form a lawmakers' group to help her with Jang's case involving high-profile figures and defined the case as sexual abuse. / Korea Times file Oh Dae-geun
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
A group of lawmakers have formed a fact-finding panel to look into a high-profile sex abuse case surrounding late actress Jang Ja-yeon.
The lawmakers met with Jang's friend and key witness Yoon Ji-oh at the National Assembly, Monday.
“We will work with Yoon to discover the truth behind Jang's suicide,” Rep. An Min-suk, chairman of the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee and a member of the fact-finding panel, told reporters after meeting Yoon.
“We, as members of the Public Administration and Security Committee and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, will do our part to punish all those responsible for Jang's death.”
On April 14, the lawmakers will hold a publishing event for Yoon's book, “The 13th Testimony,” which marks the 10th anniversary of Jang's death.
The meeting came after President Moon Jae-in ordered the prosecution to reopen the investigation into Jang's case last month. Yoon has testified that she has been threatened by powerful figures involved in this case since she spoke publicly about her friend's case.
The meeting was organized by An and Reps. Kim Su-min of the Bareunmirae Party and Chu Hye-seon of the Justice Party and participated by Reps. Kwon Mi-hyuk, Lee Jong-kul, Lee Hack-young and Jung Choun-sook of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Choi Gyung-hwan of the Party for Democracy and Peace.
Yoon, meanwhile, expressed gratitude to those following the situation while urging the media to convey the story accurately in the news.
“I haven't slept for more than two hours a day for one month. I am surprised that so many people are paying attention to the case… thank you for coming to the press conference,” Yoon said.
Citing a media report by Newsis which wrote about her alleged "shallow" relationship with Jang, she warned the media that a lawsuit would be filed if corrections were not made.
She added, “I don't like the phrase 'it is harsh, but it is the law.' Please find the truth and keep to your mission as a reporter. I feel empowered and supported by the people here who I think could have saved me from the people who are above the law. I have been doing this for 10 years straight and will continue to do so with the people here.”
An added that the lawmakers and Yoon concluded that it is a sexual abuse case, not an escort service which the media has called it so far. An said the case was and is still being covered up by the media company that allegedly abused its power. He didn't give the name of the company. Chu said the lawmakers are calling for the prosecution's thorough investigation into the case which is under the media spotlight.
Yoon, who is an actress and a former colleague of Jang, claims to have seen a document from Jang listing powerful figures who allegedly sexually abused her before her death. Yoon has given testimonies on the matter 15 times over the last 10 years. Jang took her own life in 2009, leaving the document that accused her agency of forcing her to participate in drinking parties and to provide sexual favors to important figures in the business and media sectors. The prosecution ended up indicting only the head of Jang's agency and her manager at the time. A number of the 31 names on Jang's list were also investigated by police in 2009 but were all acquitted.
Yoon is living in a shelter which is provided by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and is under police protection as a key witness of the case. She recently called for stronger protection as police did not respond to an emergency call from her security device.