Rumors of Park Hae Jin’s Controversial Past Resurface

Recent crime thriller The Killing Vote has seen its lead actor Park Hae Jin’s popularity surge, but also led to his questionable past resurfacing to public scrutiny!

The 40-year-old Korean hottie, who first came into the radar with a debut role in Famous Chil Princesses, and gained further attention with hit dramas My Love from The Star and Bad Guys, was hit by rumors that he used to work as a “male host” at a host bar. Left with no drama projects for three straight years – he finally made his comeback in 2020 – by which his popularity has taken a huge dive.

Park Hae-jin Was a Male Host?

In 2017, Park was accused of being a male host at a host bar, where middle-aged wealthy women were entertained by men, after a photo allegedly showing him with three other men wearing the same “Gucci” belt surfaced and circulated online. Allegedly taken at their “workplace”, he was pictured with a man named Ko Young Tae, allegedly a lover to Choi Sun Sil, a close confidante of South Korea’s disgraced president Park Geun-hye, who allegedly meddled in state affairs and had access to classified information. As Ko Young Tae used to work at the illegal host bar, the public started speculating at Park Hae Jin might also have done the same. Taking a massive hit to his image, he denied the rumors several times, but his career subsequently nosedived.

Exempted from National Service for Mental Health Issues

Growing up in a poor and insecure environment, Park Hae Jin recalls his first home being a single-room unit, with his parents living from hand-to-mouth without a fixed income. In middle school, his family members were separated due to his parents’ divorce. Passed from one guardian to another, Korean news media reported that he had lived with three different guardians before reaching adulthood. In upper secondary, he was forced to start working at a fashion retail store and adhesive factory to support himself, which he later revealed had led to his “feelings of insecurity”.

The actor was also exempted from national service in 2004 for having received treatment for various mental health issues including depression, though there were suspicions that the medical treatments were falsified, as his infamous photo was taken during the same time that he was exempted.

Source: KoreaStarDaily