Actor Lee Byung-hun, illegal gambling, and gangsters … Oh my!

The story revolving around actor Lee Byung-hun (of the Korean movie The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, and the Hollywood movie G.I. Joe ) keeps becoming an ever-deeper rabbit hole. How far does it go?

It began with Kwon Mi-yeon, a 22-year-old Korean-Canadian rhythmic gymnast* whom Lee met in Canada. She came over to Korea to live with Lee, believing that he was serious about her, and would marry her. He later dumped her, providing her with a humble apartment (so humble that she moved out and is now living with a friend). Due to the mental and emotional distress that she claims he inflicted upon her, she is now trying to sue him. Kwon released pictures of herself and Lee to prove that they really were a couple, and appeared on a Japanese TV program (which, to me, looks very tabloid).

But most damaging to him were allegations by Kwon that he participated in illegal gambling. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office have questioned Kwon over this, and plans to summon Lee in the near future.

But it gets even better. Lee stars in a popular TV spy drama called Iris. On December 14, gang members came to the set and became physically belligerent towards staff members. Initially, the blame was cast towards Kang Byung-kyu, a baseball pitcher-turned TV entertainer, because of his history of gambling problems and allegations that he is related to Kwon. Kang denies all charges, and says that he will file a lawsuit against TaeWon Entertainment.

“The story about me calling in those gangs is not true at all. I have actually been beaten directly by Jung Tae Won, the president of the company [TaeWon Entertainment]. The rumor that claims that I am related to Lee Byung Hun’s ex-girlfriend, Kwon Mi Yeon is also not true, and I have been receiving many death threats through phone calls with Jung.”

Kang Byung Kyu had also revealed that he had attempted to compromise with Jung on the 14th, but received violent beatings for 20 minutes, resulting in 3 weeks of hospitalization. He persuaded the reporters that he was helplessly being framed for false accusations.

A representative of the police department stated, “No evidence has been found proving his relation to the gang riot yet. Since both sides are claiming to be the victim of this case, we will carefully investigate this much deeper.”

* Do you know how flexible they are? (Flexibility starts around 1:30.)

(Updated) Actress Jang Jin-young has passed away

Commenter Kushibo informed me that the article that I linked to in my previous post was changed. Actress Jang Jin-young has passed away. I enjoyed some of Ms. Jang’s movies and think that she was a good actress. Rest In Peace.

Edit/Update:

The Korea Times has a more recent article which goes into her career in more depth. By the way, it states that her age was 35, whereas the previous article said that she was 37. Perhaps they’re going by international age and East Asian age, respectively.

Actress Jang Jin-young in critical condition

Actress Jang Jin-young’s stomach cancer has gotten worse, and she is now in critical condition. Ms. Jang starred in Singles, Blue Swallow, and Between Love and Hate. In a sad irony, she played a woman dying of stomach cancer in the movie The Scent of Love.

Thief of Choi Jin-shil’s Ashes Arrested

You might recall that someone stole actress Choi Jin-shil’s ashes. The thief has been arrested. The man, only identified as Park, turned himself in to police. So why did he do it?

“Choi appeared in my dream one day and begged me to take her out of the urn and move her to a grave.”

And this was very surprising to me.

The National Scientific, Criminal and Investigation Laboratory will conduct a DNA test on the ashes to prove its authenticity.

They can do DNA tests on ashes?

(Updated) Somebody stole Choi Jin-shil’s ashes!

You probably remember late actress Choi Jin-shil. Well, somebody stole her ashes.

Edit/Update:

We have some updates thanks to Korea Beat and the Korea Times. Somebody smashed a hole in the tomb to get the ashes. Empty soju* bottles were found and are being checked for fingerprints. The police suspect that it may be the work of a fan of Ms. Choi.

* cheap, nasty spirits

Male entertainers may also suffer sexual harassment

With the arrest of Kim Sung-hoon, the investigation into the suicide of actress Jang Ja-yeon, supposedly brought on by violent sexual coercion, is moving forward.

The police said one of Jang’s former colleagues who also worked for Kim’s agency told police on Wednesday that she witnessed Kim coercing Jang into serving drinks.

Kim was detained on Monday on charges of physically assaulting Jang, embezzling money she earned from her performances, threatening her and her friends and fleeing in a separate case involving the alleged sexual harassment of a male model last year.

(emphasis mine)

So it looks like male entertainers can also suffer from sexual harassment.

Hey! Where’s John Cho?!

The Chosun Ilbo has an article about the Korean actors and actresses who have starred in recent Hollywood movies. Mentioned were Rain (“Speed Racer”), Lee Byung-hun (“G.I. Joe”), Jeon Ji-hyun (“Blood: The Last Vampire”), and Daniel Henney (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”).

Hey! Where’s John Cho, who stars as Sulu in the summer smash “Star Trek“?!

New Rules to Protect Young Entertainers Announced

The Fair Trade Commission says that it has established rules to try to protect young entertainers. Complaints about unfair contracts, called “slave contracts” by some, surfaced after the suicide of actress Jang Ja-yeon and allegations that she was abused by her talent agency.

After investigations late last year and earlier this year into contracts signed between major talent agencies and their clients, the agency said it discovered contract terms that excessively infringe on client privacy or are otherwise advantageous only to the agencies. For example, many of the investigated agencies required entertainers to report their locations at all times or to participate in the agencies’ events for low or no pay.

Another condition that was discovered was the fact that the majority of existing contracts are for more than ten years. The new rules forbid contracts that are longer than seven years.

In the last few days, the results of a survey imply that sexual coercion definitely exists in the entertainment business. However, the extent to which it exists is unknown and, at this point, unknowable. The very low number of respondents (183 out of 2,000) makes any credible extrapolation very difficult. Another blog wrote on this same topic, and used the term “the casting couch.” You can see the entry, and the resulting discussion, including my comments on the use of that term, here.

Jang Ja-yeon’s former manager admits to beating her up

You might remember the ex-manager of late actress Jang Ja-yeon, Kim Sung-hoon, who was arrested in Japan and deported to Korea.

Police yesterday sought an arrest warrant to detain Kim Sung-hoon, the head of the late actress Jang Ja-yeon’s former management agency, on charges of physically assaulting Jang, embezzling money she earned from her performances and threatening Jang and her friends.

Kim has admitted to assaulting Jang, but he denies the other allegations. Kim is also accused of forcing Jang to serve drinks to and have sex with influential figures.

(emphasis mine)

So in his mind, corruption is something to be embarrassed about, but it’s OK to beat up women. If it were me, it would be the last thing that I’d admit to.

“Sure, I embezzled money. I both gave and accepted bribes, and cooked my accounting books, too. But I never beat up any women to force them into prostitution. Only a low-life smear of scum would do something like that.”

But that’s just me. And look at the pictures of him at the Hankyoreh and Korea Beat. I realize that, since he’s such a high-profile suspect, the police would escort him with huge guys. But Kim looks really small compared to just about every person in those two pictures. I guess that’s one reason why he beat up girls, to try to feel like a big man. I guess he doesn’t feel so tough now.

Survey suggests at least 19% of female entertainers forced to have sex

Both the Hankyoreh and the Korea Times have written about the results of a poll that suggest that at least 19% of female entertainers are forced to have sex.

The results are based on 183 respondents out of nearly 2,000 entertainers who were asked to take part in the survey _ the remainder declined to answer.

Only 183 out of 2,000 answered?! I wonder why the other 1,817 refused to answer.

Of the 183, 19.1 percent said they were either forced to have sex with influential figures or witnessed their colleagues being coerced to do so.

Meanwhile, 34.4 percent, 63 respondents said they “were urged to participate in a business banquet to provide personal entertainment for an entertainment executive or broadcast official.

It sounds like about 19% were forced to have sex, and about 34% were forced to pour drinks, etc. And that’s from the 183 who responded. I wonder what the other 1,817 who remained silent would have said had they answered.

In the section of the survey asking who were the initiators, the respondents named approximately 10 persons who work as producers and senior officials in broadcasting companies, scenario writers, businessmen and politicians. The union, however, is not disclosing any names.

According to the union, the respondents gave the names of producers and executives of TV stations, writers, politicians, and business and entertainment heavyweights who were involved, but it refused to make them public.