| Jihyo, center, is seen heading toward a departure gate at Gimpo International Airport, Mar. 18, with members of TWICE behind. Screen capture from YouTube |
By Ko Dong-hwan
TWICE leader Jihyo, one of the much-mentioned Korean celebrities rumored victims of the Jung Joon-young sex video scandal, was seen crying at Gimpo International Airport on Monday.
The K-pop girl band star kept her face down trying to hide the tears amid a crowd mixed with an army of bodyguards, journalists and photographers. With eight other members, she was heading to a gate for a flight for Tokyo, where the band begins a Japan concert tour.
A video shows her holding hands with co-member Jeongyeon.
The 3:30-minute airport scene was captured and posted on YouTube the same day.
Jihyo is one of the female celebrities rumored to have appeared in sex videos that Jung filmed without his lovers' consent and then distributed in an online chatroom in 2015. All the women denied their involvement in the scandal, which erupted early last week.
Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency subpoenaed Jung twice and on Monday issued an arrest warrant for violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, ETC. of Sexual Crimes.
JYP Entertainment, the band's agency, released a statement last week that said it had handed the names of rumormongers who linked its “female artist” to Jung to prosecutors on Mar. 13 for indictment for reputation damage.
The band's Japan concert, “TWICE DOME TOUR 2019 '#Dreamday',” hits Kyocera Dome Osaka on Mar. 20 and, then Tokyo Dome, and ends in Nagoya Dome on Apr. 6.