E Ji-ah did not write fanfic on Seo Taiji, rep says

E Ji-ah [KEYEAST]

Actress E Ji-ah's agency has denied the actress had written so-called fanfics in the past which quietly exposed her relationship with top rocker Seo Taiji.

Fanfic, a combination of the words 'fan' and 'fiction,' is a fictional novel a fan has written about the celebrity he or she is a fan of, and a number of netizens started claiming that a fanfic describing the relationship between Seo Taiji and the fan was written by E Ji-ah.

Written by a writer under the pen name of Rapunzel, a netizen from February to May of 2001 had posted a fanfic series titled "I Seo Taiji, love a woman."

According to the fanfic, Seo Taiji falls in love with a girl named Jin Shea who he meets in the U.S. where he moved to after his retirement as a singer, and after marrying in 1997, the two live together and travel the country.

Many of the circumstances mentioned in the fanfic coincide with the actual relationship E had with Seo Taiji -- after meeting through an acquaintance in the U.S., where E had been living in since 1993, the two fell in love and married in 1997.

It has also become revealed that E, who was originally Kim Sang-eun, changed her name to Shea Lee in 1997 when she was in the U.S., which is the name of the girl in the fanfic.

However, E's agency KEYEAST dismissed all speculation, saying it was a coincidence that their names are similar. "It's impossible that she would disclose her story through a fanfic when for over ten years, she had so thoroughly hidden the fact that she was married and her actual personal information."

Some netizens have sided with KEYEAST, saying that writer Rapunzel wrote other fanfics as well, and that at the time, the story was accused of being plagiarized. Others have said the name Shea became popular mongst Seo Taiji's fans because of Seo Taiji & Boys' song "Sooshea."

In the meantime, E has filed a suit against Seo Taiji after splitting from him in 2006, demanding for a total 5.5 billion won in alimony and division for property from their divorce.

The news has left the country in a state of shock since nobody had been aware of their relationship, let alone suspicious of the two, and both were believed to be unmarried.

Furthermore, E had recently announced she is dating top Korean actor Jung Woo-sung, her co-star of TV series "Athena."

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Jessica Kim jesskim@