Parts of Jang Ja-yeon's letters suspected of being tampered

By Park Si-soo

Forensic scientists said Thursday they had discovered signs indicating that some parts of letters thought to be written by the late actress Jang Ja-yeon may not actually be in her handwriting.

This finding, if confirmed, could possibly undermine the credibility of the letters which point accusing fingers at some high-profile figures that the actress was allegedly forced to entertain and provide sexual services for.

The revelation of possible tampering came one day after police discovered 23 handwritten letters and some envelopes while searching a cell at Gwangju Prison where a childhood friend of the actress is serving a jail term for rape. They were among hundreds of pages Jang allegedly sent to the inmate between 2005 and just days before her death in March 2009.

Police said parts of some envelopes bearing the sender's address had been removed with a sharp instrument.

"He (the friend) seemed to have removed the parts in order to conceal where the letters came from", an investigator said. The investigator said the removal of the stamp and address seems intended to cover up who sent the letters, adding he had not ruled out the possibility of them being written by someone else and mailed to the friend.

Police also found several printed news articles on the actress's death and the resulting scandal.

Some parts of the articles were highlighted and at the right corner of them read, "I will never leave your death worthless". Forensic scientists said the words seem to have been written by the inmate.

Jang committed suicide at her home in March 2009, leaving a note indicating that she suffered extreme mental distress after being forced to have sex with dozens of business and media heavyweights.

The police search of the cell followed an SBS TV report that cast doubts on the thoroughness of their first investigation two years ago.

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