Former TV Chosun CEO Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Media Outlets For Claiming Connection Between Him And Jang Ja Yeon

Former TV Chosun CEO Bang Jung Oh, whose name has been linked to the late Jang Ja Yeon’s sexual abuse case, has filed a lawsuit for defamation against the news outlet The Hankyoreh.

Earlier in April, The Hankyoreh reported that the Investigative Team of Past Affairs at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office had secured testimony attesting to Bang Jung Oh’s deep connection to the Jang Ja Yeon case. TV Chosun has denied this report, as well as an earlier report from KBS’s “News9” that claimed Bang Jung Oh had exchanged phone calls with Jang Ja Yeon.

Around the same time as The Hankyoreh’s report, Media Today reported that Bang Jung Oh had sent a text message to Jang Ja Yeon that said, “Are you really that expensive?”

On April 24, Bang Jung Oh released a statement saying, “All of the content that has been reported by The Hankyoreh and Media Today connecting me to the late Jang Ja Yeon’s case is false. These media outlets have portrayed me as a double-faced person, who has tormented a woman with unspeakable words and looked down on her with contempt. This is an attack on my good name, my credit, and my character.”

The Hankyoreh had reported that part of the testimony came from an acquaintance of Bang Jung Oh identified as Mr. Kim, who met Bang Jung Oh in 2014. Bang Jung Oh denied this, stating that he had met Mr. Kim only in the spring of 2015 and that they had never gone drinking or for a meal with just the two of them.

Bang Jung Oh also stated that the other witnesses listed in The Hankyoreh and Media Today, Mr. H and Mr. O, had never made the statements that were reported. He added, “Other than meeting Jang Ja Yeon by chance at a drinking establishment on October 28, 2008, I have never communicated with her or met with her. I have never sent her text messages either.”

The statement continued, “As someone who has made an enemy of the press, I recognize and accept that I will be the target of criticism that is grounded in truth, but these reports have gone far beyond the limits of an open mind. They have neglected to do even the smallest of fact-checks. Seeing the behavior of media outlets that indiscriminately circulate information that annihilates a person’s character, I have judged that this is a problem that affects not only myself but all of society.”

Bang Jung Oh concluded, “I am announcing that I have filed a criminal lawsuit for defamation at my district public prosecutors’ office against Mr. Kim, The Hankyoreh’s reporters, and Media Today’s reporters.”

Bang Jung Oh is the second son of Chosun Ilbo CEO Bang Sang Hoon. He resigned from his position as the CEO of TV Chosun in November 2018 following an incident where his 10-year-old daughter was caught abusing the family’s personal chauffeur.

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