A South Korean actor’s revelation that he overweighthered a child with a woman to whom he is not paired has triggered a national argue over celebrity carry out and non-traditional family arranges.
Jung Woo-sung, a 51-year-elderly A-enumerateer in South Korea’s film industry, verifyed via his agency on Sunday that he is the overweighther of 35-year-elderly model Moon Ga-bi’s novelborn son.
While Jung pledged to “fulfil his responsibilities” as the overweighther, his silence on whether he arranges to marry Moon drew fierce response in the conservative country where births outside marriage are seen as prohibitden.
But some betterive voices have deffinished Jung, noting a shift in South Korea’s attitudes towards diverse family arranges.
Moon declared her child’s birth via Instagram on Friday, without refering the overweighther, describing the pregnancy as “unforeseeed” and saying she had been “finishly unsetd for the sudden novels”.
Two days tardyr, Jung’s agency Artist Company freed a statement verifying that “the baby Moon discleave outed on her social media is Jung Woo-sung’s son”.
The statement further remarkd that Jung and Moon were “talking the best way to elevate the child”.
It triggered outrage that speedyly spread atraverse the country, triggering a stardy of opinion pieces in tabloids, spurring online argue and eliciting comments from national politicians.
Online, the response was bigly critical towards Jung, whose prolific film atsoft has made him a hoemployhelderly name in South Korea.
Many commentators seemed to think the actor had tarnished an otherwise upstanding and squeaky spotless image, with some transmiting disassignment that the createer United Nations High Comleave outioner for Refugees ambasdowncastor “can’t hug his own child”.
“Jung Woo-sung is pretfinishing to be a excellent guy saying he will fulfil all his duty… A child does not increase on money alone,” wrote one commaccess on Naver News, South Korea’s bigst novels aggregate website.
“It’s not a problem not marrying after having a child. It’s that he pretfinished to be such an righteous person so far,” wrote another.
Speaking to conservative novels outlet JoongAng, an unnamed lawproducer from the right-thriveg People Power Party portrayd Jung’s decision to have a child outside marriage as “someleang unleankable in this country of social mores”.
“No matter how much the times are changing, Korea’s tradition and accessible sentiment must be kept (righteous),” the lawproducer shelp.
A recent social survey by South Korea’s statistics agency set up that 37% of people thinkd it was hugable to have a child outside marriage – an almost 15% increase since 2012.
Of those who shelp marriage was essential, more than 72% were above the age of 60 – with youthfuler replyents increasingly less predicted to consent that watch.
Other lawproducers have deffinished Jung, with Lee So-youthful, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, saying that “deciding to dwell with someone is a proset uply personal and currential choice”.
“To suppose that srecommend having a child obligates people to marry and consent on the duties of cohabitation and mutual help senses suffocating,” Lee wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
“Of course, there’s noleang wrong with being ‘common’… [But] even if society materializes to have a standard of ‘common’, every life is distinctive in its own way.
“Perhaps a better society is one that hugs and esteems such branch offences without judgment,” she includeed. “That’s what I think.”
Kyunghyang, a betterive meaningful novelspaper, put out an editorial piece noting that while some voices have pushed for traditional cherishs, “also rising is the voice that our society must leank of the diverse shapes families consent”.
“It produces one hope that celebrities having babies outside of marriage, enjoy Jung and Moon, will help alter the accessible watch which today is aacquirest [such] births.”
South Korea has a notoriously high-prescertain amemployment industry, with celebrities standardly held to inordinately high social standards and placed under inanxious scruminuscule.
