Lee Byung Hun Testifies in Blackmail Trial and Claims Romantic Texts to Model were a Joke
The legal proceedings in the Lee Byun Hun blackmail scandal and trial are nearing the final wrap-up stage and this week Lee Byung Hun attended court to testify as a witness against the two ladies accused of trying to extort him for cash. The two ladies, Dahee of girl group GLAM and newbie model Lee Ji Yeon, have mounted a defense that Lee Byung Hun was trying to get in Lee Ji Yeon’s pants by buying her all sorts of presents (Lee Santa), offering to buy a condo for her, and generally doing everything that rich older married men do when trying to land a lightskirt on the side.
Lee Byung Hun’s side has denied any and all assertions that he had any relationship with Lee Ji Yeon other than trying to be friendly with youngsters in the industry as a mentor figure. Oooookay. Lee Byung Hun certainly didn’t make a persuasive rebuttal when he testified this week – when presented with the text evidence between him and Lee Ji Yeon all pointing to a romantic relationship, he told the court that it was all a joke and he didn’t even remember those texts anymore. Which basically means he admitted the authenticity of those texts and is merely claiming the contents do not mean what it means (i.e. it’s all a joke, people!). *headdesk*
Lee Byung Hun is definitely putting on his most contrite face in front of the media when he went in and out of court this week to testify. Blackmail is one of those tricky crimes where two wrongs does not a right make either way. I can’t feel bad for the two ladies who tried to blackmail Lee Byung Hun using his bad behavior, and I definitely don’t feel bad for Lee Byung Hun for doing all sorts of shady and salacious stuff to give the two ladies ammunition to blackmail him in the first place.
This case makes me feel slimy all over but at least it brings to the forefront what is commonplace in the entertainment industry – old, rich, power dudes making a play for young, pretty, aspiring gals. On a related note, Lee Byung Hun’s wife Lee Min Jung has reportedly patched up whatever needed to be worked through and is back by her husband’s side all the way. They spent a few weeks this month in LA while he worked and now both are back in Korea and she’ll be resuming her entertainment activities soon.
Since both Dahee and Lee Ji Yeon have been identified in the media, and there is no reason for their identities to be kept private since neither are underage nor are they victims of a sexual assault, above are some of the pictures unearthed of their friendship which is what led to Dahee getting involved in the blackmail even though Lee Byung Hun wasn’t trying to do anything with her. Dahee claimed she felt bad for Lee Ji Yeon with the way Lee Byung Hun played her so together they tried to blackmail him to deliver what he promised.
So, he basically admit that they did had some sort of romantic relationship and he tried to cover it up by playing the ‘joke’ card. Bravo LBH, Bravo. -_-
Sooo makjang.
Cue Temptation of Wife OST.
his smug face is so irritating.
I was just about to say that. I feel no sorry for LMJ, they have the same type of aura.
Lol, what?
i second you!what a face
I really feel sad for Ms. Lee Min Jung. Betrayal by a husband in any shape of form is very painful and will somehow affect one’s inner self. I hope and pray that she is strong enough to overcome all this. Fighting!!! Ms. Lee Ming Jung.
You are right on. He will continue to cheat (more carefully). She should divorce him while she is still young to remarry. Why does this remind me of the Bill Cosby current scandal, with 18 women coming forward claiming that he took advantage of them while they were aspiring and need help in the industry.
Eh, frankly I don’t feel bad. I’ve always felt that Lee Minjung was just kidding herself when she married Lee Byunghoon. If you look at their pics together, she was the one who always worked it and he just phoned it in.
Ewww…just ewww…to dirty old men trying to take advantage of naive young girls.
Who would even believe that a married man romantically texting a twenty something girl would be a joke. It’s clear there was some sort of relationship, whether anything more happened is between them, but Lee Byung Hun playing the “it was all fun and games” joke card just makes him look like a liar and a sleaze. He should just own up to leading on the girl and the girls need to know that blackmailing him wasn’t the way to retaliate.
I sort of feel bad for Lee Min Jung in all of this, she doesn’t deserve to be treated this way by her husband. I don’t know what’s keeping her in this marriage, they don’t have kids yet and both are famous enough on their own so a separation wouldn’t be uncommon in a situation like this. I feel like she needs to leave this toxic drama and LBH, if he cheated once he’s more than likely to do it again. The trust in this marriage must be strained if not all together lost.
She’s the less influential person here. As much as I feel sorry for her, she must have known of his reputation before marriage. I wonder though what still ties her to him. That is the moredisturbing thought.
Either way, since I don’t watch any of his movies, I basically don’t care about him. It’s only because of LMJ.
What a mess
Such a vile man. Such a disturbing incident. Such a weak cover-up to. Who’s going to believe text messages trying to buy your way into a young model’s bed were just a “joke”.
Stupid of the girls to try to blackmail him though. They probably didn’t realise how powerful a figure he was… and a complete sleazeball too.
+1 to everything you said
That’s the thing. What those 2 did wasn’t only wrong but stupid! I think they just didn’t realize how powerful he is and how nothing seems to faze him. I’m pretty sure no one buys his remorse but all is playing along. He’s going to move on in his career and maybe even private life but they’ll be paying the price. What they did was stupid and not worth it.
Why was it stupid? Strategically speaking both ladies may have figured that he would not dare reveal the blackmail in fear of public scrutiny and it would pay off and/or because this method may very well have been successful in the past.
It’s stupid because there is no way this would not have blown up at some point – whether now, or several years in the future. Huge star with lots of power. Guy with a bad reputation, so there’ll always be some paparazzi digging in his past. Marriage that could easily fall apart so, in the future, even a vengeful wife could air out dirty laundry like this to get more money in divorce settlings. Too much money and too big names involved. You can’t just hide this, there’ll be a crack at some point.
The girls probably just didn’t realise how serious a crime their offense was, because otherwise you wouldn’t do something like that.
*face palm* LMJ why did you marry this man?
If I was the Judge, I will throw away the case for a comment like that; He deserves to be blackmailed except the part where that’s a crime. ..too bad for the blackmailers!
You mean he deserves to be punished but blackmail is stupid, cowardly and never lasts.
Seriously LBH and his wife is the equivalent of Tim Cruise and Katy Holmes. I don’t think his wife can leave him even if she wanted to.
So until her contract is over, she’s stuck! Wasting the best time of her life with an assh…how sad!
yeah, he is such an ASS-JUSHSI!
This man is not attractive or talented.
He is both handsome and talented…that is exactly why things like that happen…maybe he is among the few straight men in this Industry, maybe he is in a contract-marriage, maybe he is ,now, more interesting in his Agency than his acting, maybe he is tired of previous cases of blackmailing, in which he actually gave in,why? because he really did something or maybe because he really didn’t do anything but can’t afford the “yellow” press…How come I am able of considering so many alternatives, while people can’t? I wish i wewe a genious…but I’m not…I just know that things don’t work the same way when it comes to celebrities in any country, especially in SK, where people, only, look on the outside…do whetever you like as long as it’s not in PUBLIC…you know, these little rooms at the back of the clubs!
Surely you gest to your first sentence…
sexting is a joke, everyone
does he really think people would believe him with that statement?
Let’s put glasses on so, i can look more respectable and bookish. Sex with pretty young things? Nope, I’m a fatherly businessman, I have a newspaper to read see..
*nods*
This cracked me up.
mhahaha..only to find there’s latest edition of hustler wrappin’ inside the newspaper:P
He is fooling no one… At least I hope no one is getting fooled. The blackmail was wrong wrong wrong and a waste of these young lives. So I think the girls need to learn a lesson. But still – there are just no way to punish a sleazeball like him who has connections and influence. That freaking sucks! That’s the sad part in all of this.
How can his wife trust him again?
How can she sleep in the same bed with him?
I have no respect for him and no respect for her either by accepting his actions.If he did that few months-he kind of admitted it- after his marriage what else can he do few years later?
What a low life sleaze, he makes me sick what a dirty old man. People need to stop watching his movies so he knows he is a dirt bag
I am sickened more by the dirty old man lee byung hun than the young blackmailers….
Is there someone in SK who will be brave enough to call out lee byung hun for the scumbug he really is? Someone like Hannibal Buress who bravely called out Bill Cosby as a rapist during a stand-up comedy routine.
Does anyone believe him? What a joke.
And I can’t feel bad for Lee Ming Jung, who’s not naive, having been in the industry for quite some time and around the dirtiest ones *cough*Jeong Seung-Ku*cough*.
He isn’t wearing his wedding ring, is he? Or is it common in S Korea for married guys to not wear one? Not sure about the cultural specifics there.
Wearing a ring, whether a wedding or a couple one, is indeed very cultural with a religious background. Korean spouses do not necessarily wear this piece of jewelry after their wedding, nor does the wife switch their last name to that of her husband.
The whole thing is unpleasant but kudos for LBH for not giving into black mail.
Even if the whole “the texts were jokes, I was trying to be a mentor etc.” are clearly feeble excuses at least he didn’t resort to nasty stuff and opted for resolving things via law.
As for the two young ladies, well LJY flirted with a married man and then for some reason (probably when the outcome was not to her liking) decided to black mail him. I have no sympathy for her. As for Dahee, good example on not to meddle with other people’s relationships. At least they probably learned their lesson and move on. They have their lives ahead of them.
LMJ, I can’t understand. But then again this couple never gave me any true love vibes. It all seemed so arranged at the time. I hope so for her sake.
LBH may well be a major douchebag, and cheating on your spouse is certainly morally reprehensible.
But at end of day it is not a crime. Blackmailing is. I am little disturbed by the many commenters who seem to think it is ok to break the law if the victim is a morally bad guy. I suppose if somebody cuts me off in traffic I am entitled to hit him then?
Fyi adultery is a punishable crime in South Korea.
If I have to compare the crimes here I think cheating on a spouse is a lot lessed than blackmail. Also remember it takes two to cheat. The young lady here was OK with ‘jokey’ messages and ‘mentoring’ she was not coerced or abused or worse (God forbid) raped. For some reason she chose to take revenge or gain something by blackmailing which to me is pretty low.
Oh this doesn’t mean that I think LBH is a great person. He is a dirty old ajushi and a womaniser. And he is obviously not an ideal partner. However I think it is good that he is reporting blackmail and not giving in to it. Or worse, trying to do something illegal to resolve the situation. I remember there were allegations about him framing or beating an innocent man or something like that.
And to end I think LBH is one of the most talented actors I have watched on screen. He is not my type but he is certainly easy on the eyes and I have never seen him give even a mediocre performance. Everything I have watched him in (and I have watched a lot) he was top notch. Him being an asshole doesn’t change his talent.
And that’s what happens when a talented human being throws away that gift, choosing publicity and money over acting…I wish he could have lived more like Choi Min Shik, focused on the art of performing…it’s really a shame for him to been thrown to the tabloids like that but…. everyone must pay the price for the choices one makes…what a waste…he used to belong in a Master Class rather than a prosecutor’s Office!
Ok this sleazy guy is in no way worth all the hype, If he weren’t an actor I bet at least 3/4th of his fans would run away from him if approached by him at a club, the other 1/4th are those who think that they can change a person’s character. I really don’t understand how the media can interpret his smarmy smirky face as a repentant face, glasses aren’t indicators of repentance! look at his face and not one single muscle is asking for forgiveness, he looks so full of himself. I don’t understand LMJ’s steadfastness and I hope that he at least gives her whatever their marriage contract says in return for her acting as his buffer and image rehabilitator.
He is sleazy but he is talented and I think he is an actor who is worthy of the hype.
The thing I don’t get is how LMJ is treated like an angel putting up with him. Doesn’t anyone else think it is not OK to conform to this kind of thing for whatever gain?
If the gain is to be put on the map of acting, by marrying a super A-list actor, then we should do the math! A mediocre actress with the usual (cosmetic surgery) looks is considered talented and gets projects way over her abilities…that is,more or less, the issue here. For those who mentioned her social and economical background, I am aware of some other professions like a doctor or a lawyer that the background could buy…she’s not exactly Meryl Streep but she could have been a great doctor. And since when marrying a so much older man is not a problem of its own, especially if he was not your high school crush or your long-term relationship?