Jang Ja-Yeon commits suicide over "agent sex favours"

Japanese police on Wednesday arrested the former agent of a South Korean TV actress who committed suicide after suggesting she had been forced to provide sexual favours, reports said.

Police arrested Kim Jong-Seoung for violating the immigration law and quoted the South Korean businessman as saying that he "committed a crime and overstayed in Japan to avoid being arrested," Kyodo News reported.

Kim is expected to return to South Korea, Jiji Press said.

Japanese police could not be immediately reached.

South Korean police had formally requested that Japan's justice ministry return Kim.

Kim is suspected of having forced actress Jang Ja-Yeon to have sex with influential figures in the entertainment and media industry to promote her career.

Jang, 26, hanged herself at her home in early March, leaving a note reading: "I am a powerless young actress who can't fix what is so evidently wrong".

She starred in Boys Over Flowers, South Korea's most avidly watched soap opera.