A North Korean writer’s admission that he had a baby with a person he is not married has sparked a national debate about celebrity behavior and unconventional family structures.
Jung Woo-sung, a 51-year-old A-lister in South Korea’s movie industry, confirmed via his company on Sunday that he is the parents of 35-year-old type Moon Ga-bi’s kid brother.
Jung pledged to “fulfill his tasks” as the parents, but the conventional nation was met with fierce opposition because of his unpopularity regarding whether to get married to Moon.
However, some liberal voices have defended Jung, citing a change in how people view various family structures in South Korea.
Moon announced her child’s birth via Instagram on Friday, without mentioning the father, describing the pregnancy as “unexpected” and saying she had been” totally prepared for the sudden information”.
The girl Moon revealed on her social media accounts to be Jung Woo-sung’s child, according to Jung’s company Artist Company, two days later.
Additionally, Jung and Moon were “discussing the best way to raise the child,” according to the speech.
It sparked outrage that rapidly spread across the nation, spawning a number of tabloid opinion pieces, sparking online discussion, and provoking comments from national politicians.
Jung, whose famous picture career has made him a household name in South Korea, received a lot of negative reviews online.
Many observers expressed disappointment that the actor had” ca n’t accept his own child,” while others believed the actor had tarnished an otherwise upstanding and squeaky clean image.
On Naver News, South Korea’s largest media overall site, one commenter said,” Jung Woo-sung is pretending to be a great person and promises to fulfill all his duties.”” A baby does not grow on income alone,” the site’s headline read.
It’s not a problem to not get married after having a child. It’s that he pretended to be such an ethical person so far”, wrote another.
Unnamed People Power Party lawmaker from the right-wing group JoongAng spoke to the conservative news outlet JoongAng, calling Jung’s choice to have a child without marriage” something unthinkable in this country of social mores.”
” No matter how much the times are changing, Korea’s tradition and public sentiment must be kept ( righteous )”, the lawmaker said.
According to a recent social survey conducted by South Korea’s statistics agency, 37 % of people thought having children outside of marriage was acceptable, an almost 15 % increase since 2012.
More than 72 % of those who argued that getting married was necessary, with younger people becoming increasingly less likely to do the same.
Lee So-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, argued that “living with someone is a deeply personal and existential choice.
According to Lee,” It feels suffocating to assume that having a child requires people to marry and assume the responsibilities of cohabitation and mutual support.”
” Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being’ normal’…] But ] even if society appears to have a standard of’ normal’, every life is unique in its own way.
She continued,” A better society is one that accepts and respects such differences without bias.” That’s what I believe.”
A progressive major newspaper, Kyunghyang, stated in an editorial that while some voices have pushed for traditional values, “emerging is the voice that our society needs to consider the various forms that families take.”
” It makes one hope that celebrities having babies outside of marriage, like Jung and Moon, will help change the public view which today is against]such ] births.”
Celebrities are frequently held to excessively high social standards and subjected to extreme scrutiny in South Korea’s notoriously high-pressure entertainment industry.