The parts about him assaulting a woman in 1998 and a man in 1999 are legit. Haven't looked into the DUI's but someone here said they are on his Wiki so I'm fairly sure they are legit. He was also drunk during those assaults too.
But the part about him outing his best friend and trying to get him to turn away from homosexuality? Look at the facts and decide for yourself.
it seems like the main quote comes from a Vogue Korea interview, but fuck me if i can find that easily
Cant find the interview on Vogue Korea site either. They took it down. Probably out of libel concerns.
But there's this tweet from Vogue KR "apologizing" saying "they are saddened that Lee Jungjae is being misunderstood because of their interview and that they hope Lee's sorrow over the loss of his friend is not being misrepresented on Vogue's part":
View: https://twitter.com/VogueKorea/status/302684580408856576
And "they are asking and hope no public figures are harmed by distorted news coverage and social media comments" and that "media sites are more factual going forward" (this one is bizarre because they're not directly admitting doing it here, just dropping a general statement, right after that tweet above):
View: https://twitter.com/VogueKorea/status/302710793139535872
And some articles like this one from the main business daily Maeil criticizing Vogue KR for publishing "false info" and posting information about Y's identity and outing him (Lee himself only refers to him as Y and he never outs him in the article. That was all on Vogue. In the original piece they dropped a HUGE hint about Y's identity in a footnote):
패션잡지 보그 코리아가 배우 이정재의 인터뷰 논란과 관련해 사과했다.이정재는 해당 잡지와의 인터뷰에서 “얼마 전 사랑하는 친구 Y를 하늘나라로 떠나보냈다”며 “나는 Y에게 게이 좀 그만하라고, 충분히 하지 않았느냐고 만류했지만
www.mk.co.kr
It's impossible to know if the quote about him trying to dissuade his friend from being gay is entirely true. If it was exactly what he said or not. Even if the interview was still up. Because every other source from that time I've read points to it being heavily editorialized and having things out of context. The real truth really is between him and the person who interviewed him.
This interview caused backlash against him on Korean social media. There are quotes on various articles from that time, quotes from the Vogue KR interview, and it's the same quote as the one in the OP. Then Vogue took it down and "apologized" with those tweets above. After the backlash he faced. The interview was also just 4 months after the suicide. So it was still fresh in everyone's memories. Lee and him were friends for 20 years.
The Vogue quote here on a liberal leaning entertainment website where it criticizes Vogue KR for much the same reasons I listed above (This is a pro-feminist website I've been following for a while):
[하성태의 사이드뷰] 이정재 논란, 소설 같은 기사 쓴 에디터 책임은 없나
star.ohmynews.com
It seems like it really was just a huge misunderstanding.
Also the Vogue KR piece wasn't exactly an "interview", it was a feature article.
Edit: After skimming through many articles they all paint the same picture. When that Vogue Korea piece was published it caused a scandal in the fashion/entertainment industry in Korea. Because it was just four months after Woo Jong-wan's suicide.
Vogue Korea eventually removed the piece when Lee was being blamed for the suicide of his best friend and made those tweets. And when Lee's representative was asked about it, he said they were friends for 20 years and he would never have said something as irresponsible as that to his best friend:
패션지 '보그 코리아'가 최근 진행한 이정재와의 인터뷰 내용이 도마 위에 올랐다.실제로 이정재는 '보그' 취재진과 만난 자리에서 "얼마 전 세상을 떠난 친구 Y에게 '게이 좀 그만하라고..충분히 하지 않았느냐'고 만류했었다"는 얘기를 털어놓은 것으로 알려졌다.얼마 전 사랑하는 친구 Y를 하늘나라로 떠나 보냈어요.저는 Y에게 게이 좀 그만하라고, 충분히 하지 않았냐고 만류했지만 쉽지 않았죠.그는 그렇게 불편하게 타고 났어요.저도...
www.newdaily.co.kr
So yeah, this is all the story that we know. And will ever know. Now there are some theories on Korean SNS out there but that's some really DANGEROUS speculation territory that I'm really not comfortable discussing here.
www.pannchoa.com
