A South Korean actor's revelation that he had a child with a woman he is not married to has sparked a national debate over celebrity behavior and non-traditional family structures.
Jung Woo-sung, a 51-year-old star of the South Korean film industry, confirmed through his agency on Sunday that he is the father of 35-year-old model Moon Ga-bi's newborn son.
While Jung pledged to “take responsibility” as a father, his silence on his plans to marry Moon sparked strong reactions in the conservative country where births outside marriage are considered taboo.
But some progressive voices defended Jung, noting a shift in South Korea's attitude toward diverse family structures.
Moon announced the birth of her child via Instagram on Friday, without mentioning the father, calling the pregnancy “unexpected” and saying she was “not at all prepared for this sudden news.”
Two days later, Jung's agency Artist Company released a statement confirming that “the baby Moon revealed on his social media is Jung Woo-sung's son.”
The statement further said that Jung and Moon were “discussing how best to raise the child.”
It sparked outrage that quickly spread across the country, sparking a series of tabloid opinion pieces, spurring online debate and prompting comments from national politicians.
Online, the response has been largely critical of Jung, whose prolific film career has made him a household name in South Korea.
Many commenters seemed to think the actor had tarnished an otherwise honest and impeccable image, with some expressing disappointment that the former ambassador to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees “couldn't accept his own child.”
“Jung Woo-sung pretends to be a good guy by saying he will fulfill all his duty… A child does not grow up with money alone,” wrote a commentator on Naver News, the largest news site. news from South Korea.
“It’s not a problem not to get married after having a child. That’s because he pretended to be such an ethical person until now,” another wrote.
Speaking to conservative media outlet JoongAng, an anonymous lawmaker from the right-wing People's Power Party described Jung's decision to have a child out of wedlock as “something unthinkable in this country of social mores.”
“No matter how much times change, Korean tradition and public sentiment must be preserved,” the lawmaker said.
A recent social survey conducted by South Korea's statistics agency found that 37 percent of respondents thought it was acceptable to have a child outside of marriage, an increase of nearly 15 percent since 2012.
Of those who believe marriage is necessary, more than 72% are over 60 – with younger respondents increasingly less likely to share this view.
Other lawmakers defended Jung, including Lee So-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying that “deciding to live with someone is a deeply personal and existential choice.”
“Assuming that simply having a child requires people to marry and assume the duties of cohabitation and mutual support seems stifling,” Lee wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
“Of course, there's nothing wrong with being 'normal'… (But) even though society seems to have a standard of 'normal', every life is unique in its own way.
“Perhaps a better society is one that accepts and respects these differences without judgment,” she added. “That’s what I believe.”
Kyunghyang, a leading progressive newspaper, published an editorial noting that while some voices have pushed for traditional values, “there is also a voice that our society needs to think about the diverse forms that families take.”
“This gives hope that celebrities having children out of wedlock, like Jung and Moon, will help change public opinion which is currently against (such) births.”
South Korea has a notoriously high-pressure entertainment industry, with celebrities often held to excessively high social standards and subjected to extreme surveillance.
