Baek Ji Young (백지영) is a South Korean pop/dance singer born in 1976. She released her first album,
Sorrow, in 1999 and first single,
Choice (선택), which was one of the first Korean pop songs to use Latin beats. With her sexy image and hit Latin dance-inspired songs, Baek seemed destined for
K-Pop stardom until a video of her having sex with her former manager, Kim Seok Jin (aka Kim Si Won), was released on the Internet in late 2000.
Baek Ji Young's Internet sex video got a lot of coverage in South Korean media and, because South Korea is one of the world's leaders in broadband Internet penetration, many South Koreans saw her in her full nude and naughty glory. It seems Baek wasn't entirely to blame since the video was allegedly recorded without her knowledge by her manager who later used it to threaten Baek when she wanted to change managers after she becoming successful.
Although the manager later admitted that he filmed the video secretly in 1998 and Baek publicly apologized, the conservative Korean public wasn't very forgiving, causing radio stations, television and advertisers to boycott Baek.
Baek refused to let her sex scandal stop her from continuing her career, releasing her third album in 2000. Times Asia said she vowed to continue singing "if a single fan wants me to." Although her determinaton won her some admirers, Baek was hounded by negative publicity and at some of her performances, audience members even threw things at her. As a result, she took a break from her career for two years.
In 2003, Baek attempted a comeback, releasing an album which sold moderately well. She also decided to take a bold approach by playing up her sex appeal, performing risque dance sequences wearing skimpy outfits in her concerts.
The beautiful Baek strutting her stuff at a concert
In 2006, Baek's fifth album,
Smile Again, was a commercial success and affirmed Baek's comeback. Instead of her former overtly sexy image, Baek Ji Young toned things down with love ballads as well as her Latin dance style songs.
Baek's former manager fled to the United States, but was arrested several years later by police in Los Angeles' Koreatown for statutory rape which he apparently also recorded on video. Baek has not commented publicly about Kim's arrest, understandably wanting to leave her unfortunate experience with him in her past. Instead, she has stated:
‘The scandal I was involved in will never be forgotten even when I’m very old, whether I succeed or fail, but it’s painful to hear people talk about it whenever something happens to me.’
Baek Ji Young has moved on with her career and life and managed to overcome the negative publicity from her sex scandal to re=achieve popularity in the Korean pop music scene. In 2008, she faced another challenge, undergoing vocal cord surgery to remove a cyst which posed the threat of her losing her voice. Hopefully she has recovered successfully and though its unlikely she'll be in any other sex videos, her fans will be able to continue to listen to her music and see her perform.
A more mature, but still beautiful Baek in a 2008 music video
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