Almost one million fans visited her website in the 48 hours after her death, on 7 March. In the seven-page letter, written a week before her death, the star of Boys Over Flowers, South Korea's most avidly watched soap opera, chronicled the sexual and other favours she was expected to extend to progress in the cutthroat 'Korean Wave' of TV and film.Īfter making her debut in a 2006 TV commercial, Jang cemented her fame as a vindictive schoolgirl in the soap, and was awaiting the release of her first two films when she died. In a damning letter naming the men responsible for the distress that may have caused her to take her life aged 26, Jang heaped shame on the country's entertainment industry with allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation. When Jang Ja-yeon killed herself at her home earlier this month, she not only deprived South Korea of a wildly popular soap star.
