Jang Ja-yeon

At the time of her death at the age of 29, Jang had been starring in Boys Over Flowers. She had been suffering from depression, and it was revealed in 2019 that the initial investigation into her death in 2009 was corrupted and false. The 2009 investigation concluded that her death was a suicide at first, and was reopened in 2018. Her death caused a national scandal in 2009 when it was widely spread by the media that she had been sexually and physically abused by a number of prominent entertainment executives during her career, most importantly the CEO of Jang's former talent agency, The Contents Entertainment, Kim Sung-hoon. After three witness testified against the CEO, Kim was found guilty of abuse by the Korean courts, specifically of forcing girls from his agency to come to his birthday party where he forced them to entertain the executives.

In 2019, President Moon Jae-in issued a thorough re-investigation into Jang's case as well as a proper investigation into the Burning Sun scandal and the sex scandal of former high-ranking Ministry of Justice official, Kim Hak-eui. Jang's former labelmate, Yoon Ji-oh, came forward publicly with her testimony about the agency's mistreatment of Jang as a result of the reopened investigation into Jang's death. Later on, Jang's ex-boyfriend, Mr. Choi, came forward to suspect Yoon's intention while she was promoting her book regarding Jang's death and also receiving money donation on her crowdfunding accounts regarding the case. Choi accused Yoon that she was not a friend of Jang and he never heard of Yoon's name when Jang was alive. Due to Yoon's testimonies were not consistent over the years and her other allegations of lies, defamation and frauds, South Korean government has issued 3 arrest warrants on Yoon since October 2019, including one red arrest warrant by the International Criminal Police Agency (ICPO, Interpol) to summon Yoon back to South Korea for the lawsuits. Yoon is currently in Canada. Yoon is also being sued by the people from South Korea who donated money to her.

Jang committed suicide by hanging herself at her home in the Bundang district of Seongnam, Gyeonggi province, on 7 March 2009. During a phone call at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon, Jang had complained to her sister about the "overwhelming stress" she was under, saying that she "wanted to die". Having later been unable to reach her on the phone, Jang's sister returned to their shared home at 7:42 p.m. to find her body hanging from the stairway banister.

The former manager of Jang's management agency, Kim Sung-hoon, was arrested in Tokyo, Japan in June 2009 for overstaying his visa. Korean police requested Kim's extradition on a warrant related to Jang's death. At the time of his arrest, Kim stated that he "committed a crime in South Korea and overstayed in Japan to avoid being arrested". Twenty figures were investigated by the police, resulting in seven prosecutions. Kim was sentenced to one year in jail, two years of probation and 160 hours of community service.

Jang made her debut in 2006 in a television commercial. Her big break came in Boys Over Flowers playing the role of Sunny, one of a trio of girls who antagonize the female lead played by Ku Hye-Sun. At the time of her death, Jang was awaiting the release of her first two films, They Are Coming and Penthouse Elephant.

Since the death of her parents in a traffic accident in 1999, Jang had been living with her older sister and younger brother. Prior to her own death, Jang had been suffering from clinical depression and had received medical treatment for her illness during the past year.

Jang Ja-yeon (Korean: 장자연 ; 25 January 1980 – 7 March 2009) was a South Korean actress. She was born in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, South Korea. She debuted in the entertainment industry when she appeared in a television commercial in 2006. She was known for being part of the KBS television drama series Boys Over Flowers as Sunny, one of the antagonists of the series.