On July 22, KBS2’s investigative show Smoking Gun aired a heartbreaking episode that brought to light the devastating story of two aspiring actress sisters, Yang Sora and Yang So Jung. The program exposed a painful chain of abuse, sexual assault, and police failure that tore an entire family apart.
Back in 2004, Yang So Jung, then in her twenties, ran barefoot into a police station, claiming she and her mother had been assaulted. Shockingly, the abuser was her own sister, Yang Sora. According to their mother, Sora had been acting violently—threatening to kill her sister, walking around the house naked, and stabbing a tray while screaming that she had to kill them. The terrified mother recalled that Sora, once a gentle and intelligent daughter, had suddenly changed that summer.
The shift began after both sisters traveled to Hadong, Gyeongsangnam-do for a job as extras on a drama set. Sora’s mental health quickly declined, and after being admitted to a psychiatric hospital, she revealed the cause: repeated sexual assaults by an assistant director on the set. She claimed he raped her six times over two months, both in Hadong and later in Seoul, using alcohol, threats, and isolation to trap her. She was even threatened with a knife when she resisted.
Although Sora bravely reported the abuse, she later withdrew her complaint, overwhelmed by the trauma of the investigation. Police showed little compassion, with one officer reportedly asking, “Do you really think this is a case?” Another even made her draw the perpetrator’s genitals—something that still haunts her mother. Despite her pain, Sora tried to move on. But three years later, she died by suicide after jumping from an 18th-floor building.
The tragedy deepened just six days later. Her younger sister So Jung, filled with guilt for introducing Sora to the job, stopped eating and passed away. Their father, shocked by the events, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and also died. The devastated mother said she felt like four years passed in a fog, but she eventually made it her mission to seek justice for her daughters.
Sora later revealed that she had been abused by not one, but three different assistant directors. She named 12 men in total—four for rape and eight for sexual harassment—alleging that she was assaulted over 40 times in three months. But despite her mother’s efforts and the mounting evidence, the police dismissed the case. The trauma of repeated interviews and cold treatment by investigators led Sora to withdraw her complaints once again.
The Smoking Gun episode sheds light not only on Sora’s suffering but also on the failure of the justice system to protect her. Her mother remains firm in her belief that it wasn’t just the abusers who caused her daughter’s death—but also the authorities who ignored her pleas for help.
