Wonder Girls’ Yeeun Opens Up About Her Father’s Embezzlement and Sexual Assault Scandal
Former Wonder Girls member Yeeun has spoken up about the lawsuit she is facing due to the fraud scandal involving her father.
Yeeun’s father allegedly embezzled $18 million USD from his followers
Accusers have filed a lawsuit claiming that Yeeun’s father, Pastor Park, pocketed the money he collected from his followers as investments for an entertainment business. They also claimed that Yeeun had participated in the fraud case by attending the meetings for the entertainment business. As a result, Yeeun was summoned by the Seoul Suseo Police Station for an investigation.
Yeeun has denied accusations that she took part in the meetings for her father’s entertainment business.
“I am not that reckless and foolish. I did not participate [in the meetings] and I can promise you that this is not a lie.
My father consistently asked me to introduce him to a composer for the entertainment business he was preparing so I met with about three clients at a cafe and had a discussion with them once. One of those clients is the accuser that sued me. Our encounter was not a business meeting and was merely a place for introductions.
If I had known it was even remotely related to a fraud, I would not have met them and I would have broken off relations with my father immediately.”
— Yeeun
She also revealed more about the relationship she had with her father, explaining that she was never close to him.
“My parents got a divorce when I was a child because of my father’s continuous affairs. Therefore, my relationship with my father was so uncomfortable that I didn’t even call him ‘father’.
However, it became inevitable for our family to make contact with my father in 2012 when my sister got married. From then on, my father consistently contacted me through my family saying, ‘I miss you and I’m sorry.’ I would repetitively forgive him and talk to him, and then slowly grow apart when my anger began to arise again.
I couldn’t even imagine that the forgiveness I gave to my father would repay me in this way.”
— Yeeun
Finally, she sympathized with the victims of her father’s crimes and promised that she would not engage in any contact with her father anymore.
“It hurts me very much. If my name was sold in the fraud case while I was unaware of the fact, I am even more ashamed.
I will never forgive my father who committed fraud and even sexual assault. I’ve promised my family that I would no longer engage in any contact with my father.
Although I am hurt, I am confident in my irrelevance to the case, and I will continue to faithfully comply with the investigations.”
— Yeeun
Yeeun’s father was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment for scamming 150 people out of 19,700,000,000 won ($17.5 million USD) in February 2017. In addition, he was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment and a 680,000,000 won ($600,000 USD) fine in compensation for swindling 3,100,000,000 won ($2.7 million USD) from his followers and seminar participants from December 2014 to July 2017.
According to a Korean media outlet, he is also being investigated on suspicion of sexual assault of a believer in her 20’s 3 years ago. Park had forced physical contact upon the victim for about 5 months from April 2015, requesting that she give him massages.
