Former TV Chosun CEO Reportedly Contacted Jang Ja Yeon Frequently Before Her Death
Former TV Chosun CEO Bang Jung Oh reportedly called and met with Jang Ja Yeon frequently before her death.
According to Hankyoreh, an acquaintance of Bang, Kim, revealed that Bang frequently met and contacted Jang Ja Yeon around 2008 or 2009 before her death. Kim added that Bang had someone cover up the scandal for him.
In 2014, former CEO Bang told me, ‘There was a girl I met and contacted often for awhile in 2008 or 2009 and she committed suicide. I asked someone I know and (the case) was covered up.’ I later found out from former CEO Bang that the girl was Ms. Jang (Ja Yeon).
ㅡ Kim
Kim further explained that Bang’s close acquaintance, H, created a scapegoat for Bang and helped close the case.
Former CEO Bang said that H made it seem like another person was served alcohol (by Jang Ja Yeon) rather than himself, so the case was successfully closed.
ㅡ Kim
Kim and Bang met at a “future owners” gathering hosted by the son of a conglomerate chairman in 2014 and reportedly became close since. In 2015, Kim invested 200M KRW in a premium English preschool that was run by Bang. Kim was sentenced to 9 years of prison last year for exaggerating the scale of the business’s turnover and receiving approximately 24B KRW in investments, and is currently serving his sentence.
Meanwhile, Bang had previously stated that he only met Jang Ja Yeon for a brief period on one day and clarified that he did not call or see her privately. His statement directly conflicts with Kim’s statement.
On the night of October 28, 2008, I received a call from an acquaintance and attended a gathering. (As I found out later,) Jang Ja Yeon was apparently at this gathering. I left after about an hour and went back home. I did not call or meet Ms. Jang before or after that day.
ㅡ Bang Jung Oh
In addition to Kim, another one of Bang’s close acquaintance of 10 years (“O”) also stated that Bang had contacted Jang Ja Yeon.
Recently, I heard from Mr. H that former CEO Bang had contacted Jang Ja Yeon.
ㅡ Bang’s acquaintance “O”
The same statement was made by a witness on Jang Ja Yeon’s side as well. One of Jang’s good friends explained that Bang was mentioned numerous times in Jang Ja Yeon’s diary. The friend saw a note that read “meeting with Bang Jung Oh at 00” in Jang’s diary and even confessed to hearing Jang say that Bang continued to approach her.
I heard from Ms. Jang in the past that former CEO Bang kept trying to approach her.
ㅡ Jang Ja Yeon’s friend
Considering the testimonies of numerous related persons, the investigative team responsible for the case has judged that the person Jang Ja Yeon referred to as “President Bang’s son”, who she was forced to serve alcohol to in her written document, was former CEO Bang Jung Oh.
Moreover, with the compilation of testimonies by numerous people who have complied with the investigations, there is a possibility that Bang could have consistently contacted Jang Ja Yeon after the night they met in October 2008. However, the investigation team is still looking into the case as it is unclear whether or not Bang could be charged with a crime for forcing Jang Ja Yeon to serve alcohol, etc.
On the other hand, the investigation team is also looking into whether or not a proper investigation was conducted on Bang after Jang’s death.
While they strongly suspect that Bang frequently contacted Jang before her death, call history records of the two people have not been found. The call history record of Jang Ja Yeon’s phone for 2009, the year she passed away, and the digital forensics data on her cell phone was excluded from the investigation records. Moreover, the police and prosecution had only checked Bang’s call history for two days: on the night of their meeting on October 29, 2008 and November 4, 2008.
While the investigation team received Jang’s call history that was personally stored by the prosecutor in charge at the time, the document had traces of being modified and it was deemed difficult to accept as an original copy. As a result, the investigation team is also looking into the possibility that Jang’s call history may have been intentionally deleted or omitted.
Meanwhile, TV Chosun has released another statement denying all accusations and threatening to take legal action against media outlets that report false information.
Reports claiming former CEO Bang Jung Oh frequently contacted and met the late Jang Ja Yeon and covered up the case is not at all true. H and O, who were also mentioned in the reports have claimed that they didn’t say such things. We plan to take legal action against media outlets that reported fals information based on inaccurate messages of a person who has been imprisoned on charges of fraud.
ㅡ TV Chosun
