Jessica Jung Rumored To Be Connected To Korean Government ‘Heartbreaking’ Scandal — Hallyu Star And Her Agency Coridel Entertainment Deny Involvement

2016 has been a very busy year for Jessica Jung. The “First Member” of So Nyeo Shi Dae (SNSD) — better known as Girls’ Generation — seems to be doing well with life after being a part of the most popular girl group in K-pop history.

Jessica Jung went into the new year with success already attained by her own fashion line Blanc & Eclare. However, what makes 2016 so important to her is the fact she made her return to Korean entertainment. On television, she became the new host of the show Beauty Bible on the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS). However, Jessica is known for her music career and back in May, she released her debut album, an extended play (EP) or mini-album titled With Love, J featuring the song “Fly.”

Despite reports of Jessica Jung losing popularity, she beat the odds with her solo debut. With Love, J reached No. 1 on Korean charts, No. 34 on Japanese charts, No. 4 on the U.S. World chart, and No. 16 on the U.S. heat chart. It sold almost 80,000 copies in South Korea and almost 4,000 copies in Japan. Its title track song “Fly” did very well too reaching No. 4 on the Korean Gaon Chart and No. 9 on the U.S. World chart. More than 240,000 digital copies of the song were sold too.

With Jessica Jung gaining more momentum in South Korea, she needs to stay away from any major controversies or scandals. Unfortunately, rumors started to circulate Jessica was connected to the “heartbreaking” Korean government scandal. Both Jessica and her agency, Coridel Entertainment, have come forward with statements denying any involvement.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Korean government scandal, Park Geun Hye, the President of South Korea, is being investigated for a “heartbreaking” scandal for manipulating South Korean politics. The K-pop industry was suddenly thrown into the mix when President Park’s friend Choi Soon Sil was accused of being one of the main people to manipulate said South Korean politics. However, Soon Sil was said to also show favoritism towards certain Korean celebrities in both K-pop industry and the Korean film industry through an interview with Assemblyman Ahn Min Suk earlier this month, as reported by Soompi. One of those favored celebrities was rumored to be Jessica Jung.

Such rumors could really hurt Jessica Jung’s reputation. Ergo, Coridel Entertainment emphasized that such posts spreading the rumors should be deleted, as reported by AllKpop. They made their attentions known in a full statement they recently released on November 14 [edited for clarification].

“Hello. This is Coridel Entertainment.”

“We want to state that our artist has nothing to do with Choi Soon Sil Gate and the mentioned celebrity related to the scandal.”

“Congressman Ahn Min Suk has also clarified that the online posts going around are false and have been edited and put together, as if they are real articles. We are taking legal action against those malicious online posts and social media content.”

“We are saddened to see that Jessica is being mentioned in this situation without any evidence and must take action — especially since it is tied to a grave, national matter.”

“We ask that you delete all posts about this since it is something that greatly damages the reputation and honor of Jessica, not only as a celebrity, but also as an individual person. It is also emotionally distressing, so please take down those posts.”

“Again, we will be closely observing any more of the posts of false rumors, and will be taking aggressive legal actions.

The current political situation involving Jessica Jung does put a damper on her current endeavors. Along with her duties on Beauty Bible, she is supposed to be concentrating on promotions for her upcoming movies My Other Home and Two Bellmen 3. Jessica is also supposed to be concentrating on her upcoming guest appearance on variety show Radio Star. Instead, Jessica Jung might be wondering if the aforementioned rumor will cause her to lose all the trust and support she’s worked hard to earn from Korean fans after her image in their eyes was tarnished back when she was “kicked out” of Girls’ Generation.

[Featured Image by Moses Ng/Getty Images]