Singer Im Chang-jung's wife comes to his defense in latest controversy

Singer Im Chang-jung, right, and his wife Seo Ha-yan [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Singer Im Chang-jung's wife Seo Ha-yan defended him in a post on her Instagram on Saturday, after he was caught up in another financial scandal, with a picture of a statement published by Im’s fan club refuting the allegations made against Im.

Im was accused of selling around 100 membership subscriptions to a beauty salon in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, that he set up with a business partner back in 2014. The salon, which had promoted its business and its discount events for the Lunar New Years holiday, closed abruptly, one of the buyers of the membership wrote in a post uploaded to an online forum on Friday.

The singer’s agency Yes Im Entertainment released a statement the same day, saying the singer was not involved in the salon’s management.

“Im Chang-jung wholly funded the salon’s opening to help out his hometown friend, [referred to as] S, but the two had differing directions in mind regarding its management,” Yes Im Entertainment said. “Some months after its opening, it was arranged that S would carry on managing the salon on their own, on the condition that Im received his investment funds and that Im's face and name not be used.”

In the Instagram post, Seo wrote, “There has yet again been a lot of news articles published about my husband. I uploaded the statement put out by the Im Chang-jung fan club as it is similar to what I have to say.”

“The fact that the prosecution has not even summoned [Im] to this day means that Mr. Im Chang-jung is a victim, not the perpetrator, in the case; and it means he has been framed as the offender only for being a celebrity,” the fan club’s statement read.

Other reports on Wednesday stated that the acting academy Im had advertised for was not paying its actors their due for appearing in advertisements.

“It is not a company that Im Chang-jung is related to in any way,” the singer’s agency said in the statement put out on Friday.

In May last year, Im was accused of being involved in a stock manipulation scheme, of which he denies being a part of.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]