Veteran Prolific Movie K-actor Jo Jin Woong Revealed to Have Been a Juvenile Offender Who Changed Adopted New Stage Name to Start Afresh
So props to tabloid Dispatch for dropping a major news expose to kick off this weekend. Dispatch revealed that veteran K-actor Jo Jin Woong, with over forty movies under his belt and a dozen K-dramas most famously Signal, was actually a juvenile offender that escaped his past by changing his name (to his father’s name) after the resolution of his case. Dispatch claimed he was arrested for sexual offense and robbery among other things. His agency responded that it was true Jo Jin Woong did have a juvie record but denied that it was for sexual offenses. The statement admitted Jo Jin Woong did commit youthful offenses more than 30 years ago when he was a teenager but that the matter was resolved and concluded a long time ago. The statement finished by saying Jo Jin Woong was not trying to hide his juvie record by changing his name and simply wanted to start afresh. Hhhhmmmm, that’s kinda the same thing lol. Anyways, this will be a major problem as the second season of the highly popular K-drama Signal now called The Second Signal was slated to be released in 2026 and was already done filming this summer and is currently in post-production.
Who can blame him?
This article just proves his point to show how prejudiced people are. They would never have given him a chance to make an honest living otherwise. Shouldn’t everyone be allowed to come back after making a mistake? Especially one that dates back to his teenage years.
All that matters is the person he is today.
I don’t know how Korean law works but isn’t juvie record had to be sealed? If he already face the punishment and already repented, it was like he will face another punishment in his life. But, it was a shitty move for a media to dig someone juvie record like that.
And… now he has announced that he’s retiring. The most ironic thing is that he played a kind and upright cop pursuing justice, when he himself had basically committed the crimes that the villains in Signal did, and covered them up for decades. The whole message of Signal is that time doesn’t erase your crimes. It really won’t look good if they go ahead and air season 2 with him in it, but I can imagine that it’s nearly impossible to re-shoot everything. Even fans who waited TEN YEARS for this want him off the show. What a nightmare for everyone involved in the production.
It was 30 years ago. Did he reoffend? Was he really sorry? Was it for very serious offence? If no yes no, then he is allowed to start afresh which he did.
I wonder what triggered this news to come to light. I can’t tell what is exaggerated and if we’re just getting the tip of the iceberg since he’s announcing his retirement now at age 49. As for him changing his name to get a fresh start after being punished (assuming the punishment wasn’t just a slap on the wrist due to connections and whatnot) and not committing new offenses under the new name – I feel like that should be okay.
I feel bad for those of us who have waited for Signal 2. Maybe the production can use that face-swap technology that China has been using.
I say let the second season drop anyways because us fans deserve the second season regardless. If he paid the price and changed his ways so be it but name changes for celebrities happen all the time. Heck many celebrities in general more than likely are not using their birth name for image purposes. Unless he is currently a jerk of a person continuing his teenage activity. Which I would assume he isn’t but I’m not in the know.
one crime “might” be forgivable but he got tons. He deserve no second chance imo. Retiring is indeed his best option. And I hope no sane person will ever back him up. He didn’t even bother to apologise to those affected by his crimes.
But from what I understood, he paid for the crimes already (through actual jail time or what not), correct? Apology is for something that hasn’t been paid for yet. If he’s someone on the run, changing his name to evade the law, I’d understand the scandal. But for this one…
And YOU and your nasty little website are vile for even covering this. Imagine trying to make money off a man’s suffering. Fuck you. You’re just as bad as the South Koreans intent on destroying his life.
nye nye nye, just shut up girl. What you’re doing is the reason why criminals and bad people have no shame in doing vile/nasty things.
If I don’t get to see the sequel to Signal because of this, I’m going to be so mad. I don’t care. I care about seeing LITERALLY the only Kdrama sequel I have ever wanted to see to one of my favorite Kdramas of all time.
I can’t stand Dispatch. So random, who knows what’s going on in the background?