Actress Yoon Yeo-jeong recently made headlines by publicly sharing for the first time that her son is a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Hong Seok-chun, the first celebrity to come out in South Korea, shared his thoughts on the matter.
Hong Seok-chun, who faced significant challenges after coming out on a national broadcast in 2000, recently expressed his gratitude for his elderly parents, who are in their 80s and living in Cheongyang, Chungnam, through a post on his social media. He shared a photo of them, thanking them for their health.
Reflecting on his coming out as gay, Hong Seok-chun shared, "When I think about it, I realize how much of a burden I placed on my parents. At the prime of my youth, I only thought about my happiness and my life, selfishly coming out and nearly causing my parents to collapse." He continued, "The once successful son became the nation's enemy, a target of scorn, and subjected to a witch hunt. I can only imagine how worried, pitiful, and heartbroken they must have felt, enduring the shame in our neighborhood and church, yet they stood by me silently in their usual spot."
Furthermore, Hong Seok-chun, in anticipation of Yoon Yeo-jeong's new film 'The Wedding Banquet,' shared in an interview with local media that he was "shocked, moved, and comforted" by the news of her son's coming out and marriage to his same-sex partner, especially considering the conservative nature of Korean society. "My mother asked if his mother was okay with it. My mother must have had a hard time over the years," he expressed, showing deep love for his parents.
Previously, Yoon Yeo-jeong revealed in an interview with the South China Morning Post that "My eldest son came out as gay in 2000, and when New York legalized same-sex marriage, I held his wedding there. It was still a secret in Korea, so the whole family went to New York." She added, "I love my son's husband, my son-in-law, even more than my son," showing her affection.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)