On Tuesday at around 5 p.m., 112 operators received a call from a woman who said she had been the victim of a mugging. It was Chung Ahn, the front woman of the duo Candyman who released a solo album last month.

The singer told police a man at Seolleung subway station poked her side with a weapon, threatening her, and forced her to walk with him to a restroom in a building about 1km away, and then took W70,000 (US$70) and her credit cards. The singer's face was swollen in what appeared the result of a beating.

However, police believe the singer fabricated the incident. The singer apparently failed to take into account the numerous security cameras in the area. A Suseo police officer said a look at footage from the CCTV cameras at Seolleung station and the near the building shows the singer walking by herself. Confronted with the evidence, the singer admitted she made the incident up.

At a press conference Friday, Chung Ahn apologized for the incident saying she was supposed to perform on a live radio show but she felt bad and not in good voice, so she just wanted to escape from the appearance. “I didn’t realize things would escalate like this,” she added. Determined to make the incident seem real, she entered the lavatory in a building in a quiet area, where she hit herself in the face and cut up her clothes with a knife.

The entertainer's agency says not even her parents and her boyfriend knew she made the incident up. “She has been under enormous pressure because two albums of mixed duets she brought out lost money,” the head of her agency said. “But it hasn’t even been one month since she made her solo debut, so I can’t understand why she has done this.” The singer will get a summary trial for filing a false report.

(englishnews@chosun.com )