It’s hard to cover award winning director Hong Sang Soo and his new movie On the Beach Alone at Night starring award winning actress Kim Min Hee without being back splashed with their messy personal life romance. After holding hands all over the Berlin Film Festival last month where Kim Min Hee took home the coveted Best Actress Award, the pair attended the Seoul press conference for the movie and openly acknowledged that they were in love and dating. What would normally be a sweet story about a director and his actress muse finding love while filming a movie is instead arrayed over the reality that Hong Sang Soo is married, and will still be married for the foreseeable future as his wife is refusing to divorce him and still wants him back. What Hong Sang Soo and Kim Min Hee does in their personal life should be judged apart from their cinematic achievements but it feels like they are taking their romance so public to apply pressure on Hong Sang Soo’s wife to agree to the divorce, at which point the tsk-tsk-ing K-netizens are having a field day while the less interested in titillating scandal folks just want these people to keep their personal lives away from their professional events – Hong Sang Soo and Kim Min Hee should have kept repeating “no comment” to dating questions if you ask me.
I know this is completely irrelevant and I don’t agree with their approach, but seriously Kim Min Hee is GOREGEOUS! Sooooo pretty. I really feel like if it wasn’t in this scandal she would get soo much more cfs.
I was just thinking that. I’m in no place to judge someone’s personal relationships, but damn if i can’t judge that her hair looks fabulous and bouncy.
She looks much prettier next to him than before without him. I never thought she was pretty until now.
She is very good at getting BFs than all the other K-ent actresses. Some girls are very lucky.
@Rei or maybe she has a great personality? maybe you didn’t mean to, but i found your comment to be really passive aggressive. or you just hate kim min hee, if so why bother to post?
Asdf
Nothing wrong with my statements. Why accuse me of hating Kim Min Hee? I didn’t not mention that word at all or anything remotely close. Please don’t pick on me. The subject matter is not me, so please get your facts in order.
She’s honestly my number one pick for Disney’s live action Mulan since forever, if she’s not such a shitty human being I’ll still root for her sigh
umm..no, with so many beautiful Chinese Actresses, they need to pick someone of Chinese Origin to be Mulan. Zhou Wei did a great job as Mulan in her movie. Disney should pick Zhou Wei!
Things happen. People cheat. Some people have four wifes. Lots of people divorce. Its not a pleasant situation no matter where you look at it, but from a film industry perspective this news doesn’t bother me.
If doesn’t bother you, then why bother to post?
Because he/she wants to?
Exactly, because I want to. Duh. Koala has an opinion and I do too. Obviously you do too. I’m just saying from a entertainment stand point it doesn’t matter what stars do behind the scenes.
Your insensitive remarks towards the pain the betrayed wife and daughter is going thru is just sad. Till the day you become a victim of a cheat. You may no longer look at such pain so insensitively.
Clearly you don’t understand what I am saying. Again, from a film industry stand point it doesn’t matter what stars do behind the scenes. If this affected the Berlin Festival so much they wouldn’t let her win an award. And going through this type of situation? Of course no one wants to go through heartbreak. Do you know how it feels to be cheated on? I’m sorry if I offended you but I’m looking at this from a film industry standpoint not who they hurt personally.
Hohliu, thanks for your inputs.
Some people are insensitive to other people’s plight and some accuse others of hatred
@Rei Since you are replying to a comment made to me from another reply, i hope you aren’t talking about me as the “some people” who are insensitive to other’s…
By the way, you aren’t in anyone else’s shoes except your own. It is what it is when it comes to cheating. I don’t regret what I said because we are only humans who have too many emotions.
Personaly I think this is very sad.
His wife refuses to divorce him and publicly declares she “wants him back” not because she really wants him anymore, just to spite the couple and try to make their lives miserable.
IMO it’s a very silly thing to do. It’s better for her to settle the matter and move on with her life – she would be so much happier.
All i ever hear from divorcees is “i should have done it sooner.”
I think its very a human thing. She is hurting and acting on it.
.. maybe she does not want to give divorce so that he can be happy while she herself is in so much pain or maybe she one of the old values one where being divorced is the ultimate shame
I feel in cheating cases, the person cheated on is under no obligation to be gracious and accommodating.
He should have divorced her before he started having an affair and not flaunt his affair and expect her to roll over and take it. That would have been the decent thing to do. if she wants to just spite him, so be it. why should she make his life any easier?
+1 human thing indeed. Hopefully they all come to peace soon.
Perfectly right.
Since he is flaunting his affair in public, why would the wife need to give in to her demands? Anyway he already filed for the divorce…. so do people still want her to consent immediately? What’s the difference of waiting a few more years to let the court settle it?
Typo… why should she give in to “his” demands.
Anyway, it’s ridiculous to accuse the wife of being spiteful. She has every right to hang onto the marriage as long as she likes. It makes no difference to her since he already left the house and separated from her …
Spite, I doubt that. She probably wants to save her marriage which is hardly wrong in any way. I wish these two were graceful about their affair. Its a professional event, why not keep their personal lives away. It takes away focus from their work and I think it’s unfair to his family. I am no expert but there has got to be better ways to handle a divorce tgan this.
Affair is a both sided business. It’s not like it didn’t happen mutually..often women gets all the blame for breaking a marriage while it’s the husband who took the first step towards other woman…more than the woman, the husband should be blamed, and in this case, I don’t get why the wife would like to stay with a man like that in the first place. If he wanted to come back, that would have happened already. By stating that she doesn’t want to divorce him, she’s only making it hard for her and her children. Of course the father has to take responsibility of the children, but the wife needs to end this. It’s unhealthy business for her…she’s doing injustice to herself.
Its easy saying walk away from years of marriage, memories for somebody who is not in her shoes. I do hope she can but we can’t dictate how long it takes for somebody hurt like his wife to heal the scars and let go. I think the director is an ass. I heard he stopped supporting their daughter’s education to pay for his new love. Who knows maybe, the issues that are not letting them get a divorce is legal and financial issues.
There’s nothing to lose for her to hang onto the marriage. If she divorced him, what can she do?
Moreover it’s just a matter of time the marriage would be dissolved anyway. Why does she need to follow his timeline?
It’s up to the wife whether she wanna agree to the divorce or not. It’s her right. It’s not the right of the adulterous couple to insist on that. I hope she stays strong and not succumb to any depression.
Very true. She must be over 50. Its easier to say start a new life, live life to the fullest.. But not true in real life.
Even if she wants to hang on to the marriage to enjoy his money or status then so be it. He only thought of his needs. She should also think about herself. Why should she care about whata convenient to him?
Btw i heard over netizenbuzz that he supposedly cut off all money and even refused to pay for his daughter’s expenses and education. So his wife is pretty much broke. Does anyone know if this is true or not?
Kdramakrazy,
You made valid points. She probably didn’t work much for years in order to care for the daughter and family as a housewife.
There’s no point for her to sue him for adultery coz South Korea no longer recognises adultery as a crime since 2015.
By agreeing to the divorce based on his terms, she may not get much since the daughter may be above 21 and he is not obligated to give child support.
Basically she has nothing to lose by not divorcing him “yet”. I am sure she is getting good legal counsel to wait and see what he can offer to get a quick divorce.
not familiar with their law but if i were the wife, i’ll sue him and her for adultery or whatever, divorce him and get the money. you hurt me emotionally so that’ll be my revenge. idc about the money but i just want to piss you off. 🙂 but oh man, kim min hee is gorgeous and talented and she ended up in this situation. what’s the use of all that when you have no brains.
the bad thing is in South Korea, they abolished the law for adultery which sucks. A LOT. So South Korea doesn’t really support woman to be independent after divorce. I mean, how conservative is their society that divorced women are still being perceived negatively regardless of the reason (with few exception).
The only thing that pops into my head when i read about this relationship….. How did she move on from jo in sung to this?
Hahaha coz she looks prettier next to “this” than pretty Jo In Sung
Jo in Sung – I get the impression than KMH was already in love with HSS but tried to forget him by trying out with jo in Sung. I remember jo in sung once mentioned that he cudnt understand women. This statement reminded me that he already knew about thE involvement of KMH with HSS
She needs love. She doesn’t need pretty face.
Sigh, she is so pretty and talented and all she is ever talked about is for her dating scandals and this one tops all 3 of the rest. I get that they’re in love and that she wants to be with him but if I were her I would think it’s better to avoid this scrutiny and at least keep things low profile till he gets a divorce or something. I gotta say though that I cannot sympathize with his wife either. Their marriage is so obviously over now and I can’t think of any reasons to want him back. Even a bitter divorce battle would be better than refusing to divorce him at all.
If she agreed to the divorce then it will be on his terms. Obviously he wants her to let him go without much benefits for the rest of her life coz he needs to pamper his new lady.
How is she going to survive without his financial support?
THIS. I’ve been waiting for someone to remark on this. They’ve been married since the 80s and assuming the typical role for a woman in the South Korean society, she probably relied on him for most of her adult life. For him to divorce so suddenly and without future regard to her livelihood or possibly their offsprings, is quite disheartening. One of the few reasons why I’m still following this piece of news, because if she does divorce, I’m curious how the settlement plays out.
Hasy,
Thanks. I am not familiar with divorce and marriage. But I just try to imagine how she felt about the whole situation.
One of the reports highlighted that he threatened not to pay the daughter’s university fees as he wanted to compensate KMH’s loss of contracts. If it’s true, that’s really a terrible way to treat his own daughter. Makes me cringe.
Since he has moved out from the house, I doubt he is even supporting her livelihood now. Perhaps she might be just using some life savings to get through this ordeal.
What a pity, KMH is gorgeous and talented. She would be a big star in SK if she didn’t have this affair in the first place. I think she’s wrong to date a married man. But IMO, from his previous movies (that usually have theme of film director with worn out marriage and cheat), I doubt the director is an honest and upright man, either.
I can’t help but wonder, though. KMH probably knew her career is practically over after the scandal broke. Does she cling to this man because of “love” or is it a revenge to the wife for blowing up the story? Something like, “Well, you might have destroyed my career. But, you’ll never have you husband back.”
In a couple of years, KMH may find another man….
Sigh
The victims are the wife and the daughter.
You…. feel very strongly about this.
I wouldn’t say that the wife and the daughter are the only victims.
Asdf
In the first place I never say anything negative about your first posting.
You wrote that her hair is nice and I replied that I didn’t notice she is pretty until now which is actually an acknowledgement of your comment. She is pretty and she is lucky to get a trio of good looking BFs. That’s a fact so why are you picking on my statements?
I am not married and I am not a divorcee and I don’t have any personal experiences like what they are going through. I don’t feel strongly about this issue.
I think you are the one having problems with nothing! From a simple statement, you are making a big deal out of nothing.
No human being is ever one hundred percent honest. We all are dishonest at some point in our life whether we mean it or not.
oh they’re married. so…????
karma will get this bitha this man. she only after him for his money he wont be able to bang her he too old.
I don’t know if this comment will sound shallow, but if I’m that pretty looking AND young I just can’t imagine sleeping with an old man, whose skins are all wrinkled and haggard. lol.
Anyway, in all seriousness, I don’t believe in marriage or eternal love, so I feel like moving love from one person to another is normal. While it maybe normal, I don’t think it’s right to cheat. You can change love, just don’t cheat. Then again, not everyone can let go of someone after so long, so I can see why the wife is like that.
Plus the Ajussi smell ?
I feel bad for the director’s wife and daughter (? based upon other comments). Imagine if I were the daughter I’d feel extremely embarrassed and ashamed. Love means no harm to others. The man as the father just doesn’t love his daughter.
Off topic. Koala, you don’t comment on Taiwanese dramas anymore. Or do you simply not follow T ent anymore? I just found there’re some interesting T dramas to watch, and new actors/actresses who are really talented.
There is nothing pretty here. Love is blind and all that, I think they felt that going public was going to pressure the wife to divorce him. The wife clearly feels wronged even if the relationship had gone sour and this might mean she digs her heels in. There is so much hurt here from the wife and I imagine the daughter, HSS is the selfish bastard here, it should have been dealt with privately no matter how painful KMH have no opinion on but this will affect her career considering how double standard the K-Ent industry is so her career will probably focus on indie/noir films that are sold overseas. So sad for those negatively affected not much sympathy for those that cause the pain turn the knife a little more.
you all are too judgmental…. its their personal life, may be his marriage was already a mess before he met with her so leave them alone
I think it’s not about being judgmental. While it could be true that HSS’s relationship with his wife was already on the rock before KMH came into the picture, still it IS morally wrong for KMH to came in between them when they are still legally married.
Moving on, all parties will become losers. HSS will be labeled as the cheater, KMH as the third party, the wife as the spiteful ex. Nobody wins.
Honestly, it is called an “affair” bc they are not divorced but i am pretty sure they were living separately both physically & mentally a long time ago. This couple should be able to do whatever they want. Life is to short to live through others. And if the wife loved him at all she would give him the divorce. I believe his child is already full grown, so that excuse wont work for sympathy anymore.
You are right. Life is too short. We should all focus on what makes us happy.
So if the wife is happy denying him a divorce so that he doesn’t walk away satisfied and the kmh does not get the legitimate status of wife, she should do just that.
The wife should focus on herself only. Why make anything convenient for him?
Like hohliu said below, you can’t understand till you experience it yourself. My sister went through this and everytime that ass suffered it made me happy bec i saw what a mess she became bec of him.
Kdramakrazy
I totally agree with you. Since the husband already left her and probably cohabiting with KMH, what is there to let go? I don’t understand why commentators are asking her to let him go. He already left.
All that’s left is the divorce paper sent to her house. So why should she sign it? He is already so happy with KMH, posing and grinning. Isn’t that enough happiness for him?
He already has everything. Career and a very public mistress.
But for the wife, she has nothing. After two decades of marriage, she has no career and no husband. The saddest thing is that now she has to bear the pain of seeing her daughter going through a broken family life added with a very humiliating scandal featured all over the world.
I have been a victim in this situation. As I like to say, until those that experience such betrayer and the immense and unbearable heart pain that go on each day 24/7. They have no idea why his wife is still suffering. Words are just empty without experience.
I feel it is just so disrespectful for them both to be so open in public holding hands. It is still early days. Allow the wife to heal before declaring out in public. Why further humiliate this older woman who has gone thru so much already.
Hohliu
Thanks for sharing. My symphathy to those who had to go through challenging situations. Do stay strong and stay joyful no matter what…
No matter how much he wants out of the marriage, he ought to be considerate of his family. At least take care of the financial needs of his daughter and the ex-wife to be.
There must be something so special about KMH that makes super hot actors to date her and a married old man to marry her.
Anyway nobody deserves to be treated like the wife….sad.
Anyone who cheats is a disgusting asshole in my book. Why should they get a pass just because they’re famous? Just no.
They won’t last. Read my words..hehe
Love have no boundaries but what does KMH see in this white haired father-figure? She has gone to great lengths to get a role before. Maybe it’s about winning for her. If this man was set free by his wife she would lose interest and let him go.
ABC
+++10000
Yeah. He is old and … hmm nothing much to comment about his looks.
The only benefit for the wife is that she doesn’t need to put up with the old man anymore. Just let KMH take care of him in his old age. He is gonna be a grandpa in a few years’ time.
He will be a grandpa in a few years…
KMH needs to care for an old man in the future.
At least the wife does not have to do that anymore.
My honest opinion is “ladies say no to married men, help save another woman’s marriage”
Okay.. Bye!
LOL…but such simple wisdom!
As a child of dirvocee my father left my mom after years of them living separately and was lo
Comment got cut off i meant to say while I sympathize with the wife i still feel she should move on. My father remained my dad even after he left the house but my mom wanted me to hate him for leaving her. Yeah it’s wrong he cheated but she is wasting her life clinging to someone who at the end of the day simply does not to be with her. Couples know when it’s not working, why should someone stay in an unhappy marriage korea is too old fashion for me. Personally i dislike the idea because she was a housewife he has to give in to her every demand. Just divorce the man already it looks sad and pathetic holding on,heir daughter is a grown woman no need for that excuse.
Okkk…..smartest comment of entire post. There is a well known minister in the US (not sure which state) who believes and preaches- that in life there are people who will walk away from you, you may or may not know why they want to go, but let them go. You cannot and should not hold onto people who want to leave. Let Them Go.
Easy to say, but she is over 50, has been with him through thick amd thin, took care for his sick mother for an eternity. She has been a filial, dependant housewife. What will she do now? How will she manage her finances and the stigma that follows divorced people in the east?
It’s always easier to judge from an outsider’s perspective isn’t it? No one has the right to tell the wife what she should do. It’s her marriage. Let her decide what she wants to do in her own time and on her own terms. The rest of us should….butt out?
This blog has a strange obsession with this affair which is more interesting than the affair.
It’s not that hard dear. Most film magazines managed to review the movie without simultaneously moralising and being titillated by the personal lives of those involved. And lol at some the comments – too much K drama watching!
How the Korean divorce’s law works?
If one of them doesn’t want to accept, there is nothing the other can do to divorce?
With not knowing the circumstances, it probably would have shown more class if they would have kept the affair quiet, until after the divorce. Wonder how many years they were married? Going public to force the issue, is not the adult thing to do, if that is why they did it. Unless the child, is completely oblivious to what is going on, it had to affect her/him in a negative way. It would most children.
Maybe the wife is Catholic? They never divorce unless Pope says it is ok right?
Coming from a non bias place, im not a fan of her or seen any of her movie, she’s just plain and simple a home wrecker. he’s still married, yet she’s “dating” him. I don’t know their story, but when a man is still married you leave them alone. i dont care how much you’re itching to touch them and declare your love for them. i’m sure he wants to leave his wife for some young looking thing, but she should have more pride and respect to let him divorce the wife first. i hate women and men like this that think it’s okay to date while still legally married.