Singer's Former Manager Sought

The Seoul prosecution is searching for the former manager of pop diva Baek Ji-young who, officials said Monday, recorded the two having sex and distributed the film online out of revenge and for financial gain.

Three other men are also being sought for their involvement in the case, which humiliated the 24-year-old singer. She recently stopped performing. The prosecution alleges that Kim Si-won made a video of the couple having sex in October 1998. Originally, he kept the video in his possession. How-ever, it was widely circulated late last year, throwing a stunned Miss Baek into the spotlight.

"Mr. Kim released the video out of revenge and to earn money after Miss Baek's recording company pressed charges against him last May for using her hit songs without permission," the prosecution alleged Monday. Explaining that Mr. Kim began to leak information about the existence of the video in early 1999, prosecution officials charge that Mr. Kim supposedly threatened to release the sex film earlier if Miss Baek did not follow his orders.

Mr. Kim set up an Internet site in New York last November with a computer expert, identified only Mr. Lee. For the first month, they collected $19.99 for a download. But the number of viewers spread rapidly after hackers broke the code.

by Cheong Yong-whan