After the Seoul Provincial Courthouse finalized its judgement on Lee Byung Hun’s (45) blackmail case against GLAM’s Dahee (21) and model Lee Ji Yeon (25), the mother of Lee Ji Yeon stepped forward for the first time for an official interview with the flooding press on the day of its final court hearing.
Q. Lee Ji Yeon shedded tears when she heard the sentence declared. She seems to be looking towards the seats for the public for you, were you able to make eye contact with her then?
A. No, I couldn’t see her. I only looked at the judge because I knew I would cry if I looked at my kchild (Ji Yeon).
Q. What is the meaning behind her tears?
A. She is probably scared of the world. She was in pain for the last four months, but now she has to continue to live the pain two times as more.
Q. You apologized in front of the reporters, right?
A. I avoided reporters’ contact so that I don’t harm my child any more. I sincerely meant it when I apologized for causing such inconvenience for the society. Ji Yeon has been continuously repenting on blackmailing, and so am I.
Q. But you said you wanted to put the truth in light?
A. Yes, I am not continuously claiming for the truth to come in light because my daughter is not regretful and reflecting on her blackmailing. I have no ill intention to further harm the opponent (victim Lee Byung Hun). I am repenting on it. But that does not change the fact that I am mom, and I want to put right to the truth of my daughter’s case.
Q. During the trial, a SNS media revealed message conversations to the public. Many rumors speculated on whether or not that content was true or false.
A. They revealed the content was from the ones submitted to the court. That means it was an evidence that we submitted, and so why we would submit a fake evidence to the court…?
Q. So you must have become aware of all of the happenings while preparing for the trial?
A. I was really shocked. I feel like my daughter was foolish. I resented him for his behaviors, who is only three years of age difference from mine.
Q. A prison sentence was concluded from the 1st instance in court.
A. The judge extenuated and accepted after reviewing the files and evidence submitted. But it seems like the judge could not disregard the victim and his family’s damage with the case.
Q. You must feel regretful with the result.
A. Regretful, yes. Especially because the court charge for having ill intentions and planned behaviors has been passed to the truth for the case. He is the one who approached my daughter first. He continuously wanted to visit her house and sent photos of him as well as contacting her. I think my daughter misunderstood that process as a world star giving her special attention. He might claim that there was nothing special going on and that is how the case ended, but then why would a married man, who has no special feeling for the woman, ask for sexual behaviors by coming to see her in the house? I’m really curious on that part.
Q. How is Ji Yeon doing?
A. She is still enduring it. She had some chronic disease, so I usually bring her those medications myself.
Q. Do you still visit her everyday?
A. Yes, she told me that she shares the room with seven others. She sleeps sideways because there’s not enough space. Although it takes me five hours in total of going back and forth, I still visit her everyday because that is the only time when she can really be at rest.
Q. What kinds of things does she say?
A. She barely talks about the incident because it’s difficult for her to take in. Maybe it’s because her dad is taking cancer treatments at the moment, but she likes to say that she’s okay and to not worry about her.
Q. There have been talks regarding an appeal, are you considering?
A. I need to talk to the attorney first and then decide. We have submitted maximum evidence and files we could for the trial. Although those submissions were accepted, it did not make much influence for the final decision. So we are giving careful considerations for the appeal.
Q. What are your last words for Lee Byung Hun?
A. I am in the position of a mother with a daughter. So I am in the position to reveal the truth of the case. I am sorry if I caused you harm in my process of trying to reveal the truth to the case. It seems like your marriage life with Lee Min Jung is doing fine. But you are a married man, so I really hope you don’t get mixed up with such unsavory incident like you did with my daughter. There must not be the second and the third daughter like mine. Really that must not happen again.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Provincial Courthouse proceeded to finalize judgment on Lee Byung Hun’s so-called “five million dollar blackmail case” for Dahee and Lee Ji Yeon, following their prosecution last September, on January 15th. The five months of drama closed its curtain with Lee Ji Yeon and Dahee facing 14 months and 12 months of jail time respectively. Lee Byung Hun has not yet revealed any statements regarding the conclusion of the case.
This Q&A was directly translated by Koreaboo, original Korean article can be found at SBS fun e.
