Boys over Flowers' Actress Jang Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

Actress Jang Ja-yeon was found dead in an apparent suicide Saturday at her home in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province. By Chung Ah-young Staff Reporter Rising actress Jang Ja-yeon, who was currently starring in the KBS 2TV hit drama ``Boys over Flowers,'' was found dead in an apparent suicide Saturday at her home in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province. Police said that the 26-year-old actress apparently hanged herself from a stairway railing and was discovered by her sister around 7:30 p.m. Jang was known to have had trouble with her current management agency renewing her contract. The actress had complained about the overwhelming stress to her sister during a phone call at 3:30 p.m. that day, saying she ``wants to die.'' Actress Jang Ja-yeon was found dead in an apparent suicide Saturday at her home in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province. According to police investigations, Jang also suffered from depression and had undergone medical treatment during the past year. About 10 years ago, Jang lost both of her parents in a car accident when she was in high school and had lived with her sister since. A will has yet to be found, but after her family's statements about the actress' ongoing struggle with depression, police are searching for further evidence of suicide and returned Jang's body to the bereaved family without performing an autopsy. Various stars, including the cast of Boys Over Flowers, are visiting the late actress' mortuary at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital to offer their condolences. After her public debut in 2006 in a TV commercial, Jang rose to stardom playing Sunny, one of the three mean girls in Boys over Flowers. She was also awaiting her big screen debut in Penthouse Elephant. - Korea Times Intern Hwang Sung-hee contributed to the article (ssung_86@hotmail.com). Actress from ‘Boys Over Flowers’ hangs herself March 09, 2009 Jang Ja-yeon An actress in the hit KBS TV series “Boys Over Flowers” was found hanged to death at her home in Bundang, Gyeonggi on Saturday. Jang Ja-yeon, 27, played Sunny, one of a trio of mean girls who picked on the lead female character Geum Jan-di (played by Gu Hye-seon). Upon returning to the home they share at 7:42 p.m., Jang’s older sister found the actress hanging from the stair banister and called police. A police investigation concluded her death was a suicide. Her body will not be autopsied, but will be returned to the bereaved family. “Jang has suffered from depression. She spent most of her time at home these days,” an investigator quoted Jang’s older sister as saying. He added that Jang has been taking tranquilizers since last year. The sisters lost their parents 10 years ago in a traffic accident and have lived together ever since, police said. Investigators assume Jang took her own life at around 4:30 p.m. The whole cast of the show came to the mourning hall set up at Seoul National University’s Bundang Hospital to pay their last respects to Jang yesterday. Jang’s death is the latest and most tragic in a series of incidents involving cast members of the show. Star actors Kim Hyun-jung, Kim Beom and Kim Jun, as well as Gu, have all been involved in separate traffic accidents recently. On March 2, KBS had to air an “F4 Special Show” instead of the scheduled 17th episode, as the producers failed to complete shooting because of Gu’s injuries from a Feb. 27 car accident. “Boys Over Flowers” is a modern-day Cinderella tale of a poor but spunky schoolgirl (Gu) at an elite high school, who attracts the interest of four handsome and ultra-rich boys at the school, known as the “F4,” for “Flower Boys 4.” The drama is based on the Japanese comic book “Hanayori Dango” by Yoko Kamio. Korea is the third country to turn the story into a television series following Taiwan and Japan, both of which won high audience ratings with the shows।

JANG JA JUN OF ''BOYS BEFORE FLOWERS'' COMMITS SUICIDE ON MARCH-7-2009!p1



Jang Ja Yeon's funeral (BOF cast arrives)