Comedian Park Narae has suspended activities amid a series of controversies, and as allegations pile up her chances of returning are growing slim.
Park Narae is accused of tax evasion. On the 5th, one media outlet reported that the Seoul Regional Tax Service Investigation Bureau 2 conducted an intensive tax probe of Park Narae and her one-person agency Npark for about a month starting in November 2022.
Npark listed Park Narae's mother as the representative director of the one-person agency, but although she did not actually work there she is reported to have been paid several million won each month, nearly 80 million won a year. Also, after Park Narae established Npark in July 2018, she reportedly earned close to 10 billion won by mid-2021, just before the tax probe, but largely kept the funds retained in the corporation.
The tax authority judged that Park Narae likely recorded fabricated expenses or omitted sales amounting to at least several hundred million won and launched an investigation. The estimated amount of tax evasion was reported to be at least around 2 billion won, but the tax authority reportedly decided to impose only about 200 million to 300 million won in additional taxes on Park Narae and concluded the investigation.
Since the 3rd of last month, Park Narae's time as an entertainer has been frozen. Former managers alleged not only simple unfair treatment but also specific and serious criminal charges such as workplace harassment, special injury, proxy prescription, and unpaid production fees, filed an application for provisional seizure of real estate at the Seoul Western District Court and brought a damages suit seeking about 100 million won, which the court accepted.
On the 16th of last month, Park Narae posted a video with the nuance that she would fight the former managers to the end through legal action, and since then she has kept her mouth shut. It was an extreme move called a "final statement" made from the judgment that what she says or writes could work against her in future court proceedings, but critics say it may have backfired by leaving her unable to respond to subsequent revelations and allegations.
After the final statement, Park Narae additionally sued the former managers for attempted extortion and embezzlement related to duties and was questioned as a complainant, but she has instead been driven into a tighter spot. Allegations range from throwing a drinking glass and injuring former managers to revelations that she had sex with her boyfriend in a car driven by a manager, with the disclosures invading her private life.
In particular, allegations have arisen that she earned nearly 10 billion won over three years but evaded at least 2 billion won in taxes, and that she received preferential treatment from the tax authority. For an entertainer whose image is crucial, this is a potentially irreversible blow. Park Narae, whose image had already suffered due to abuse of power allegations and illegal medical procedures, was already far from returning. With the private life leak of sex in a car and the additional tax evasion allegations, she has been pushed into an even tighter corner.
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