Tiffany Taeyeon named the JonBenét Ramsey of Asia

Not only is the vanishing of Tiffany Taeyeon the hottest issue of the year in Korea, it's also making headlines around the globe.

American news network CNN recently aired a television special on the shocking event, investigating the idol's mysterious disappearance and the effect that it's had on Asia's media. The network boldly dubbed Tiffany, "the JonBenét Ramsey of Asia", comparing the media whirlwind that her disappearance has caused to American pageant darling Ramsey, whose unsolved murder in 1996 gripped the nation and went on to become one of the most talked-about and heavily-reported stories in the US media in the 1990s.

JonBenét before her tragic death

Tiffany's background (she's half-French) has also helped fuel heavy coverage of her rumored death in France and other parts of Europe, in addition to Australia, which is where she was flying back from when her plane vanished.

But all the global headlines are nothing compared to the storm that's been caused back home in Korea. Since news of her disappearance broke, the singer has consistently remained in the top three search terms on all of Korea's major search portals, while reports on the ongoing investigation have yet to leave covers of the country's magazines and newspapers.

The scandal has also caused a huge sales surge for all the artists at Tiffany's agency, White Entertainment. According to industry experts, HyunA Knowles' first album Bunny's First Love received a sales spike of 60% following Tiffany's disappearance, while various releases from Girls' Revolution, Suzy Sooyoung, and Jessica Jiyeon followed behind with similar boosts. Even White's sister company KRS Media has benefited from the intense media interest, with rookie boy band Wi-Fi receiving a surge in digital sales, while chart analysts claim that new girl group White Dolls had higher than expected debut sales for a rookie act, citing the 'Tiffany Ripple Effect' as the reason.

The biggest sales surge belongs to Tiffany herself though, whose recent digital single "I Love You" with B.A.P. shot from No. 123 on the GAON charts to No. 7 the week following her disappearance, and has yet to leave the top 10 since. Additionally, her Japanese album with bandmate Jessica Jiyeon 'Absolute First Album' has returned to the top 10 in Japan, while initially reaching the top five in Korea from imported sales alone. White Entertainment have since released the album through Korean digital music portals to meet the demand.

White Entertainment are rumored to be taking full advantage of current interest in Tiffany with several posthumous music releases, an upcoming star-studded tribute album, lucrative CF deals, and an animated series called "Tiffany Taeyeon: Jungle Girl Adventures" about Tiff's life being marooned on a deserted island. K-Scandal magazine also report that White will be launching multiple product lines under Tiffany's name, including lingerie, perfumes, survival gear, parachutes, clothing lines, dried beef jerky, and more.

Netizens had a lot to say about the Tiffany news, rushing to our forum and commenting: "I'm glad they will continue Tiffany's legacy with all these different products. I know it's what she would want," "I miss you Tiffany flawless beauty queen, you are definitely the JonBenet of Korea." and "Everybody hated Tiffany before, but now that she's dead everyone wants to pretend they loved her. Well I still hate her and I always will."