| Lee Jin-wook, left, and Ban Seo-jin |
By Ko Dong-hwan
Model Ban Seo-jin has denied rumors she is the woman who accused actor Lee Jin-wook of rape earlier this month.
The rumors came amid increasing public scrutiny over the identity of the 30-something woman whose apartment Lee visited and allegedly committed the crime.
Ban, 27, denied the rumor on Instagram, Thursday, saying she had never met him.
“I first learned about the rumor from my friends' phone calls and KakaoTalk messages,” said Ban, the host of online beauty show “Miracle Beauty” on Naver TV Cast. “People left malicious messages on my SNS and I deleted them all. I am not interested in drawing people's attention and it is hard to deal with the situation now.”
| / Courtesy of Instagram |
The rape allegation surfaced on July 14 when the woman sued Lee for sexually harassing her after drinking together at her apartment. The woman submitted to police underwear she claimed she was wearing when she was raped. Police sent it to the National Forensic Service for analysis.
Three days later, the actor visited Suseo Police Station in Seoul for questioning. He denied the charge and counter-sued the accuser for a false charge. He argued the intercourse was “consensual.”
“Rumors about Lee's rape now spread on the Internet are strongly biased to the accuser's stance,” said C&CO ENS, Lee's agency, Wednesday. “A little lie leads to a bigger lie until the person will catch herself in a trap.”