Choi Tae-joon once introduced Jung Joon-young and Lee Jong-hyun as his best friends, raising fans’ worries, “Can Park Shin-hye handle this?”
While congratulating Park Shin-hye and Choi Tae-joon’s marriage, netizens are also worrying about Choi Tae-joon being a friend of Jung Joon-young in the past.
After Park Shin-hye and Choi Tae-joon announced their marriage and Park Shin-hye’s pregnancy after their 4 years of dating, some fans mentioned Choi Tae-joon’s two best friends in the past and raised concerns. The two are singer Jung Joon-young and CNBlue Lee Jong-hyun, who were involved in the so-called “Jung Joon-young’s group chat room” scandal.
On November 23rd, Salt Entertainment, Park Shin-hye’s agency, announced that Park Shin-hye is pregnant and is planning to hold a private wedding with her lover Choi Tae-joon in January next year. From being friends, Park Shin-hye and Choi Tae-joon developed into lovers in 2017 and have continued dating publicly.
When the news of Park Shin-hye and Choi Tae-joon’s marriage was revealed, Internet users on the online community Nate Pann responded that they were “really surprised”. Among them, a netizen drew attention for their comment, saying, “Isn’t Choi Tae-joon a friend of Jung Joon-young?”
Following this comment, other netizens brought up photos taken with Jung Joon-young and Lee Jong-hyun that Choi Tae-joon uploaded on his Instagram in the past, saying, “The three are best friends. He always posted photos of them traveling and hanging out together. Men can’t get along if they don’t have any similarity.”
Jung Joon-young and Lee Jong-hyun were pointed out as central figures in the “Jung Joon-young group chat room” incident in 2019. Jung Joon-young is serving his 5-year prison sentence for group sexual assault and distributing illegal hidden camera footage.
Lee Jong-hyun became controversial when he and Jung Joon-young shared sex videos in a private chat room and made remarks that seemed to treat women as objects. However, Lee Jong-hyun was excluded from punishment since he was not charged with filming and distributing illegal videos.
At that time, Choi Tae-joon was suspected of being a member of the group chat room due to his close friendship with the two. However, an investigation by the investigative authorities found that Choi Tae-joon was not in the group chat room. At that time, Choi Tae-joon finished filming for the pre-produced drama “So I Married an Anti-fan”. Nevertheless, as the work was put on hold for about 3 years, he began his alternative service as a social worker.
Choi Tae-joon first revealed that he and Jung Joon-young were friends who live in the same neighborhood on MBC’s ‘We Got Married’ in 2014. Afterwards, Choi Tae-joon went on a trip to Macau with Jung Joon-young and Lee Jong-hyun through KBS2’s ‘Battle Trip’. During the show’s broadcast, Lee Jong-hyun said, “I met (Choi) Tae-joon in a drama. I said that I would introduce a special friend, so I brought Jung Joon-young.”
Meanwhile, in a letter announcing the marriage to his fans, Choi Tae-joon used the word ‘savior’ to describe Park Shin-hye. The actor wrote, “She is like a savior to me who taught me without words to smile when I’m happy and to cry when I’m sad”. He added, “Now, to achieve the fruits of this love that I’m grateful for, we are about to make our marriage vows.”
Many netizens have voiced their displeasure over the news since Choi Tae Joon and the infamous Jung Joon-young were best friends. Here are some comments: “Park Shin-hye, can you handle Choi Tae-joon’s dark history?”, “I didn’t know they were dating, so I was shocked”, “They have a child then decide to get married, I hope they live a good life.”
