On August 20th, the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Appeal Division 4-1 sentenced Kim, former CEO of the late Jang Ja-yeon’s agency, to one year and six months in prison for committing perjury when appearing in the trial of lawmaker Lee Jong-gul in November 2012 as a witness and arrested him in court.
Earlier in the first trial, the court accused Kim of giving a false statement when he claimed that he did not know former CEO Bang but acknowledged that the statement, “I did not assault the agency’s celebrities”, was not false. As a result, he was sentenced to four months in prison and one year of probation. However, the second trial found him guilty of all charges.
The court said, “The defendant ran the agency that managed the deceased (the late Jang Ja-yeon). Even though he knew the internal issues better than anyone else, he only tried to avoid responsibility and reduce the seriousness of the case. At that time, he even fled to Japan. It is questionable whether the defendant felt sorry or guilty toward the deceased”.
They continued, “Even if the document written by the deceased may have been prepared at the request of someone in a dispute with the defendant, and there may be errors in titles or difficulties in identifying specific individuals due to her reliance on memory, it does not appear that the deceased fabricated entirely groundless statements, as the defendant’s responsibility has been acknowledged in criminal cases.”
Meanwhile, Jang Ja-yeon passed away in March 2009. Her suicide note shocked everyone as it explained how she was forced to sexually entertain influential figures in the broadcasting and business industries in detail. Her family filed lawsuits against people on the so-called ‘Jang Ja-yeon’s list’, but only her former agency CEO and manager were prosecuted.
Source: Daum
