Jang died by suicide. She was found in her home in the
Bundang District of
Seongnam,
Gyeonggi Province, on 7 March 2009. During a phone call at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon, Jang had complained to her sister about the "overwhelming stress" she was under, saying that she "wanted to die". A police investigation concluded that her death was a suicide, According to widespread South Korean entertainment news reports, it was believed that Jang claimed that her agent Kim Sung-hoon had regularly beaten her and forced her to sleep with a string of VIPs, including directors, media executives and CEOs. Kim Sung-hoon, who was in Japan, denied the accusations. It was unconfirmed that Jang wrote a 7-page note listing at least 31 names of media executives, CEOs, and directors that she claimed she was forced into having sex with. South Korean police have suppressed the full list. Later on, it was also reported that the 7-page note might not be written by Jang herself. The former manager of Jang's management agency, Kim Sung-hoon, was arrested in Tokyo, Japan in June 2009 for overstaying his visa. Korean police requested Kim's
extradition on a warrant related to Jang's death. At the time of his arrest, Kim stated that he "committed a crime in South Korea and overstayed in Japan to avoid being arrested". Twenty figures were investigated by the police, resulting in seven prosecutions. Kim was sentenced to one year in jail, two years of probation and 160 hours of community service. Approximately 250,000 fans visited Jang's website on the day of her death to express their condolences, with a further 700,000 visiting the site the following day, In 2019, President Moon Jae-in issued a thorough re-investigation into Jang's case as well as a proper investigation into the
Burning Sun scandal and the sex scandal of former high-ranking Ministry of Justice official, Kim Hak-eui. Jang's former labelmate, , came forward publicly with her testimony about the agency's mistreatment of Jang as a result of the reopened investigation into Jang's death. Later on, Jang's ex-boyfriend, Mr. Choi, came forward to suspect Yoon's intention as she was promoting her book regarding Jang's death and also receiving money via her crowdfunding accounts regarding the case. Choi declared that Yoon was not a friend of Jang and had never heard of Yoon's name when Jang was alive. Due to Yoon's inconsistent testimonies over the years and her other allegations of lies, defamation and fraud, the South Korean government has issued 3 arrest warrants on Yoon since October 2019, including one red arrest warrant by the International Criminal Police Agency (ICPO, Interpol) to arrest Yoon. Yoon is currently in Canada. Yoon is also being sued by the people from South Korea who donated money to her. Due to the controversy of Jang's case and the rumors since Jang's death, all the accusations from the media could not be used as evidence to press charges on any figures involved. Thus, Jang's former manager, Kim Sung-hoon is the only person who has been arrested so far in this case. ==In film==