Former T-Ara member Lee A-reum handed over to prosecutors on child abuse charges

Lee A-reum, formerly of K-pop girl group T-ara, captured from Instagram [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Lee A-reum, former member of T-ara, was handed over to prosecutors on charges of child abuse, child neglect and exploitation of minors.

Gyeonggi's Gwangmyeong Police Station handed Lee over to the Ansan branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in early May, the police said Monday.

Lee's mother was also handed over to the prosecution on charges of exploiting minors. Lee and her mother have also reportedly been barred from contact with Lee's children.

Lee's ex-husband filed a complaint against Lee and Lee's mother in February. Authorities referred the case to prosecutors after a three-month investigation.

Lee joined T-ara under the name Areum in 2012 and withdrew in 2013. She married a noncelebrity businessperson in 2019 with whom she has two sons.

Lee has also brought charges against her ex-husband, alleging that he “threw the child who was less than a year old out of his bed and hit the five-year-old son, pushed him and kicked him out of the house.” She has also claimed that her ex-husband urinated and defecated on the children's faces while angry.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office dismissed that case on May 8 after police failed to find corroborating evidence. Experts, after analyzing testimony from Lee's two children, concluded that claims their father had abused them were not reliable, adding that they suspected Lee had played a role in pressuring the children to make such statements.

Lee announced in December that she was undergoing a divorce suit with her ex-husband and would marry her then-boyfriend as soon as the legal battle concluded. She also released photos that she claimed were taken after her ex-husband had beaten her and stated that he had physically abused her children as well.

BY LEE JI-YOUNG, KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]