Park Yoo-chun (or Yoochun) of boy band JYJ was accused of sexually assaulting a woman on June 10. But hours after news broke about the matter, the charges have been dropped.
Park has argued the woman's claim was made to extort money from him. The woman, identified only as Ms. Lee, 2A4, is said to be an employee of an entertainment establishment (or a liquor bar). Lee's boyfriend is reported to have submitted the charges to the police on behalf of his girlfriend.
In the documents submitted, Lee claims that Yoo-chun came to the bar where she was working at on the night of June 3 as a customer. She claims that the singer assaulted her in a restroom inside the bar. Lee submitted her underwear and the clothes that she was wearing that day to the police officials as evidence. The National Forensic Service was asked to conduct a DNA analysis on the evidence submitted.
The woman claimed that before the incident took place, they had been talking for about an hour and had only met at the bar that day. Lee said that she tried to push off Yoo-chun advances, but he sexually assaulted her despite her protests.
Officials have obtained CCTV footage of the bar to see how Yoo-chun acted and if it corresponds with the woman's claims. The officials initially planned to summon the singer for questioning but said that there was no available footage inside the area where the alleged rape took place. Although they obtained hallway recordings, there was nothing suspicious in them.
C-JeS Entertainment has released a statement defending Yoo-chun. "We will not compromise to malicious blackmail out to ruin a celebrity. Park Yoochun will diligently submit to the police investigation so that the truth can be revealed," the statement reads.
Yoo-chun's agency has also requested for the media to stop focusing on the story until the investigation is completed as it could cause harm to the Yoochun's career.
As for the dropping of the charges, the boyfriend of Lee released a statement saying, "We submitted a document to an affiliate of the Seoul Gangnam Police Station today at around 6:30 p.m. stating [we] are dropping the charges. An accident happened when A (Ms. Lee) was drunk. When I heard about the accident that day, I got mad and that's why [we] filed the charges. However, [I] thought it was our fault for not finding out the exact situation of what happened before and after and that's why the charges were canceled."
No comments have been made yet by Yoo-chun and his team regarding the charges being dropped.
