"He Kept Saying He Wanted to Date Me" '51' Mina Recalls the First Time She Met '34' Ryu Phillip

51-year-old singer Mina recalled the details of her first meeting with her husband singer Ryu Phillip, who is 34 years old. 

On March 12 episode of SBS' television show "Four Men," Mina made a guest appearance. 

While having a conversation together, one of the hosts Lee Sang Min mentioned her married life with a 17-year younger husband. 

He said, "You've been posting a lot of videos of you dancing with your husband, emphasizing your age. They're really popular on the internet, aren't they?"

Mina answered, "Yeah, one of our dance videos reached 30 million views today. There are like four videos of ours that have over 20 million views as well. My husband put in a lot of effort to improve his dancing skills for those videos."
Then, Lee Sang Min remarked, "I heard that from the instant you met, there was an intense passion between you two, like a burning flame. Is that true?"

Laughing, Mina answered, "Well, I wouldn't say it was from my side. But from his side? Definitely," then shared what happened on that day. 

Mina started off by stating, "I first met my husband at a birthday party of this singer that we both knew. At the party, he started speaking to me first. While we spoke, he even wrapped his arm around my waist. You know, he's from the States, so... At that time, I looked at him and was like, 'Wow, he's very good-looking.' I didn't see him as a man though." 

"When it got late, I said I was going to go home. Then, my husband said he was going to take me home. I lived in Incheon back then, quite far from where he lived. But he was like, 'I'm going to get some sleep in the sauna near your place. Meet me tomorrow.' I was mainly active in China at that time, so I didn't have many friends in Korea. Since I thought it'd be nice to hang out with him, I was like, 'Okay.'"
"The next day, my husband joined a meal with my friends. There, he kept telling me, 'You're totally my type. I want to date you. Date me.' I told him, 'You're too young though. Weren't you born in the '90s?' Right then, he pulled out his ID and showed me that he was born in 1989. Since I started university in 1992, I would've felt uneasy dating someone born in the '90s. He was close, but made the cut." 

"Anyway, we slowly got to know each other after that day, and started dating," she added with a shy smile. 
Mina and Ryu Phillip got married in 2018, when Mina was in her 40s and Ryu Phillip in his 20s; they have no children. 

(Credit= SBS Four Men, 'minakorea' Instagram) 

(SBS Star)