Note: This is a comprehensive translation of 2 articles [both linked below] about Yoon Ji Oh, a witness in the Jang Jayeon investigation being accused of falsifying facts as well as as update on Ji Oh's prior emergency alerts while in witness protection that were never answered by Police.
Article: "The important thing is that we shouldn't trust Yoon Ji Oh..."
Source: SPOTV News
Actress Yoon Ji Oh is being accused of falsifying testimony.
According to a report by JoonGang Ilbo on the 23rd, the actress is being sued by writer Kim Soo Min for defamation. Kim Soo Min alleges that statements provided by Yoon Ji Oh regarding the Jang Ja Yeon case are false. He also claims that Yoon Ji Oh was never close to Jang Ja Yeon and that she's using the investigation to prepare for her upcoming new book "The 13th Testimony."
Writer Kim Soo Min's lawyer Park Hoon spoke to reporters on the 23rd regarding the lawsuit and said, "Yoon Ji Oh is taking advantage of the unfair death of the late Jang Ja Yeon. She's claiming that she's "risking her life to testify" when in truth she's receiving financial support. Yoon Ji Oh claims that she saw Jang Ja Yeon's list that named the alleged perpetrators when in fact Jang Ja Yeon never made such a list. She admitted she wasn't close to Jang Ja Yeon in a katalk conversation with Kim Sook Min and is only making these accusations because she's seeking higher royalties for her new book."
The lawyer continued, "We warned her several times and told her not to get in the way of the Jang Ja Yeon case and just leave the country to no avail. All she said was "whatever."We can't stand it anymore and plan to pursue legal damages against her and hope she is thoroughly investigated for taking advantage of the late Jang Ja Yeon's death."
The reporter that first reported on Jang Ja Yeon's case Kim Dae Oh also refuted Ji Oh's claims and said, "She claims that she saw copies of the 7 pages and the list of 40-50 people but it's impossible for that to have happened because that list was never part of the original. She's even saying that Ja Yeon said, "she was forced to serve alcohol during the memorial of her mother's death" but there were never any such documents. I don't know why she's claiming all these things were in the suicide note when they're all false."
Yoon Ji Oh took to Instagram to respond to writer Kim Soo Min's allegations and lawsuit with a screencap of a katalk conversation she had with a reporter and said, "Writer Kim Soo Min manipulated the katalks. He's someone that lacks common sense and threatened to reveal my identify before if I came forward as a witness. He already threatened other victims from the past incident at Isu Station and he's now doing the same to me because he got away with it the first time. I've testified over 16 times in the past 10 years for Jang Jayeon because I really cared for her so how can he question my credibility like this??If the police thought I was lying with my prior testimonies they would've investigated me. So you calling me a liar now just doesn't make any sense. I've only met writer Kim Soon Min once and he's got nothing to do with me, Ja Yeon or my family."
She continued, "As to lawyer Park Hoon, I won't even explain anything because he's not worth responding to. This is a re-investigation and all the reporters are not reporting the facts. They're just attacking the witnesses that are coming forward to testify. I'm saddened by the death of Ja Yeon more than anyone else and I hope that the truth will be clarified."
[Update on the police investigation into Ji Oh's repeated emergency calls]
On the 23rd, the Police also announced the results of the investigation into Yoon Ji Oh's repeated 119 [equivalent of 911 in the U.S] emergency calls that were never answered despite pressing the "SOS Emergency Call" button over 3 times.
In March, Ji Oh created a petition requesting an explanation and an apology from the police for not providing her proper witness protection. She claimed that she pressed the call button but received no replies from Police for over 10 hours. On March 31st, the in-charge at Donjak PD issued an apology to the actress and promised to conduct an investigation into the report.
A spokesperson from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency revealed an update on the investigation and said, "The smart watch development and analysis of the manufacturers log revealed that Yoon Ji Oh first 2 emergency calls weren't received because the call button was pressed for only 1.5 seconds. The 3rd time she called the button was pressed longer than 1.5 seconds but she cancelled it immediately by pressing the power button at the same time. In other words, the police never received the emergency report because Yoon Ji Oh didn't use the SOS button correctly, not because of a mechanical defect. We gave her the smart watch last month and explained to her how to use it."
At that time, the public's distrust for the police raised a "negative theory" against Yoon Ji Oh's claims that the location tracking device and the emergency call smart watch provided by the police wasn't activated.
Later in an interview with JTBC's 'Newsroom' on Wednesday Ji Oh said, "I've been in 2 major traffic accidents from the time I started to write this book on the Jang Ja Yeon case. There's been people following me and I've been threatened multiple times." The actress then shared a photo of a blue vehicle she was in that resulted in a distorted front bumper because of the accident.
However, on the 23rd, Xports News revealed an SNS conversation between Yoon Ji Oh and Kim Soo Min that they had obtained from an informant. The conversation revealed that the blue car in question wasn't actually Yoo Ji Oh's car but the perpetrator's that got into the accident with Ji Oh. Xports News explained that it seemed that Ji Oh had sent out that damaging photo of the other party's vehicle to the broadcasting station to give more impact to her lie that she had been threatened and even got into an accident that caused damage. The conversation also revealed that her "traffic accident" was merely a simple collusion from the slippery road conditions from the snow and moreover, the perpetrator in the accident was the father of a child who even had the child in the vehicle during the collision.
Amid growing suspicions surrounding Yoo Ji Oh and the public's surprise, the Xports reporter said, "What is more important is the confirmation of the late Jang Ja Yeon's case. Let's not water down the narrative and cause confusion because the more we do this, the more difficult it is for the deceased. We must make sure the re-investigation of the case is separate from these allegations so that the case is investigated thoroughly."
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| Screen cap of the petition by Yoon Ji Oh on police misconduct on the National Petition Website |
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| Screen cap of the SNS conversion between Writer Kim Soo Min and Yoo Ji Oh and the photo of the alleged accident in a blue car shared by Yoon Ji Oh to JTBC 'News Room' |
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| Reporter Kim Dae Oh who first reported Ja Yeon's case |
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| Reporter Kim Dae Oh (left) and Writer Kim Soo Min (right) who filed a complaint against Ji Oh for defamation and false facts regarding the investigation |
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| Katalk conversations with Kim Soo Min released by Yoon Ji Oh |
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| Yoon Ji Oh's book 'The 13th Testimony' |