HONG KONG - Singer-actor Edison Chen is returning to Hong Kong to face the music for the risque photo scandal, after another protagonist, singer-actress Gillian Chung, apologised on Monday.

Apple Daily said he would fly back from Boston after spending Valentine's Day with his girlfriend, Vincy Yeung, the niece of media magnate Albert Yeung.

The Chinese Canadian singer-actor was told by his management to take a break after the scandal broke two weeks ago, the report said.

He went to Vancouver to help his mother move house before joining Yeung in Boston, Apple Daily said.

Hundreds of explicit photos - which are believed to have been stolen from his computer and seem to show celebrities including him, Yeung, Chung and actress Cecilia Cheung - have been leaked online since.

Although Chen said sorry last week in a video statement, the public perception in Hong Kong is that he has been hiding.

His management was quoted as telling the South China Morning Post: 'Edison is not trying to stay away. He is arranging to come back to Hong Kong in a few days.'

Apple Daily said Chen, 27, would meet the media soon after his return. He will also attend the Chinese New Year party hosted by Media Asia studio next Monday.

Meanwhile, Chung's statement has met with a mixed reception.

Public relations expert Ross Lai told South China Morning Post that she had handled the incident well, by admitting she was 'naive and very silly' and indirectly confessing the photos were genuine.

But Apple Daily said in an editorial that Chung and her company were hypocritical.

'In fact, Gillian was certainly not naive, certainly not, and her naive, angelic image was fake.

'Two years ago, she cried her heart out after the stealth photo incident. She once saw two movie stars kissing and said it was very disgusting... But at the time that she was saying such things, she was also taking obscene photos.'

On Monday, police said they arrested a ninth person, a 24-year-old man, over the case. He was charged with publishing obscene articles.