SEOUL: Korean authorities said recently uncovered letters allegedly written by late Korean actress Jang Ja-yeon, who took her own life in 2009, have proven to be fake, reported Korean media.
The letters, which claimed Jang was forced to provide sexual favours to over 30 people on over 100 occasions by her management, came to light after a Korean broadcaster reported on them last week and caused a stir among Koreans.
Amidst calls to re-investigate the case, Korean police had seized the letters from an inmate named Jeon – Jang's alleged acquaintance whom she was said to have sent her letters to – and sent them to Korea’s National Forensic Service (NFS) to determine their authenticity.
"After comparing Jang Ja-yeon's handwriting, Jeon's handwriting and the handwriting in the letters in question, the results show that the handwriting in the letters is not the same as Jang's," said Yang Hoo-yeo of the NFS in a press briefing on Wednesday morning.
"Jang Ja-yeon did not write these letters."
In addition, Yang said the results of the NFS studies suggest the letters might have been fabricated by Jeon because "many of the grammatical errors in the letters are consistent with those in Jeon's personal correspondences".
Jang's case will stay closed
Korean police said they found no DNA or fingerprint evidence that the letters originated from Jang and had previously noted that Jeon had a history of mental illness and schizophrenia.
In addition, Korean police claimed that Jeon once told his brother-in-law in 2009 that the letters were put together from information found on the Internet.
They also found some 300 newspaper articles about Jang when they searched Jeon's cell.
"The man (Jeon) denies he fabricated the letters, so we don't know how he accomplished it ... but we believe he got interested in her, studied her and then imitated her handwriting based on the portions of her letters which were publicised in the media," said Kim Kap-sik, a police officer investigating Jang's death in a separate media briefing on Wednesday afternoon.
As the letters have proven to be fabrications, Korean police said Jang's case will not be re-opened, though it will investigate the case further should new evidence be uncovered.
-CNA/ha
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