[Aju News DB ]
Disgraced actress Sung Hyun-ah was cleared of prostitution charges Thursday in a highest court ruling after a nearly two-year legal battle that opened the rid on South Korea's clandestine "sponsorship" between actresses and wealthy businessmen.
Sung, a 40-year-old Miss Korea-turned actress, was charged with prostitution in December 2013 for receiving 50 million won (41,300 US dollars) in return for sexual relations with a private businessman on three occasions. She was accused of having a sex-for-money sponsorship.
Lower courts found her guilty and fined two million won, but she appealed to plead her innocence insisting the money was not related to sex but was given out of "goodwill."
On Thursday the Supreme Court ordered a retrial, ruling that Sung could have met the businessman for "sincere" relations.
A 2013 investigation into a celebrity prostitution ring sparked rumors about dozens of people who allegedly had clandestine relations with deep-pocketed or influential sponsors. Some stated their innocence or took legal action to stop the rumors from spreading. Prosecutors revealed Sung's name only.
The investigation followed the suicide of actress Jang Ja-yeon in 2009 who killed herself at her home, leaving a letter in which she heaped shame on "slave contracts" in the country's entertainment industry with allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation.
Jang also claimed she had been regularly beaten and forced to have sex with people including directors and CEOs.
아주경제 임장원 기자 = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
