On March 4, Hankook Ilbo released some parts of the conversations it had with Jo Ha-eun, a former Miss Korea contestant and a female office worker in her 20s, about the misunderstandings between her and Hwang Jung-eun.
“I’m an ordinary office worker and I’m still at work,” Jo told the media outlet. “I woke up in the morning and checked (my Instagram) on my cell phone. It’s a private account, and I suddenly got hundreds of followers. I got several requests on my dog’s account as well. It was ominous. I checked my direct message and I got malicious DMs saying, ‘You’re a crazy b**ch, you mistress.'”
She added, “I was surprised and Googled my name. My face popped up on an online community. I became a mistress and wondered, “What is this?” It turned out Hwang Jung-eum uploaded my photo. Then she deleted it.”
“My friend’s name is Lee Young-X, and he’s really hard working. His nickname has been Lee Young-don (“don” means money in Korean) for a long time. I have purchased tickets (when I went to Bangkok) and a vlog video that I went to with my friends (as proof). I have nothing to do with the controversial Lee Young-don at all,” she stressed.
“I was even rooting for Hwang Jung-eum. When I saw her post about (her husband), I even pressed “like,” and she uploaded me,” she shared. “There were even some ridiculous posts about me coming from the hostess business. My hands are shaking. I came to work, but I think I need to take a half hour to solve (the case).”
Jo also said, “The reason I don’t act hastily is because I want to hear from Hwang Jung-eum why she did it. I want to explain after hearing all that. I don’t want things to get bigger.”
Earlier that day, Hwang Jung-eum captured Jo’s Instagram post and shared it on her account, mistaking him for her husband’s affair as Jo mentioned her husband’s name. However, it turned out that Jo had never met Hwang’s husband. The friend who was traveling with her had the same nickname as her husband’s name. Hwang later apologized for this.