Hong Kong singer-actor Edison Chen, the focus of the recent celebrity nude photo controversy, on Thursday met with local media for the first time since the scandal broke out. Apologizing, he said that he had decided to resign from the Hong Kong showbiz circle. [Photo: Tungstar/ent.sina.com.cn]
Related: HK Star Apologizes after Nude Pictures Leak Online

               Police Apprehend Ten over Nude Celeb PhotosHong Kong singer-actor Edison Chen, the focus of the recent celebrity nude photo controversy, made his first public apology on Thursday saying he would resign from the Hong Kong showbiz circle.

Chen met with local media for the first time after numerous photos of him in bed with several local starlets leaked onto the Internet in late January and then spread like wildfire.

Other stars involved include Gillian Chung, member of the pop duo Twins, and actress-singer Cecilia Cheung. Entertainment publications around China have been devoting headlines to the incident for several weeks.

"I would like now to apologize to all the people for all the suffering that has been caused and the problems that have arisen from this," Chen said at the press conference, reading out a statement in English.

Chen admitted that he had photographed most of the leaked photos, but that "these photos were very private and have not been shown to people and were never intended to be shown to anyone."

Hong Kong police were quoted in earlier reports as saying that someone used dishonest means to take some information from Chen's computer after he sent it to a local shop for service last year.

Several people have been detained as local police work to stop circulation of the photos.

Police in Shenzhen, a city neighboring Hong Kong, have also arrested ten people suspected of producing, selling and purchasing discs of the nude photos.

On February 4, Edison Chen apologized via a video and then left Hong Kong for Vancouver, according to local media.

Chen, who was born in Vancouver, said on Thursday that he never thought to escape from any responsibilities, and that he was leaving Hong Kong to take care of his mother.

During his brief appearance on Thursday, Chen apologized several times, saying he will do whatever he can to clean up the aftermath before stepping away from the Hong Kong entertainment industry "indefinitely."

Twenty-seven-year-old Chen shot to fame in the late 1990s, and has released a dozen albums and has appeared in popular films such as "Infernal Affairs" and "Initial D."





[article from cenglish]