Following Jung Woo-sung, another ‘illegal child scandal’ is heating up the entertainment industry. The main characters of the scandal are director Hong Sang-soo (64) and Kim Min-hee (42). News has belatedly been reported that Kim Min-hee, who has been having an affair with director Hong for 9 years, is 6 months pregnant.

O Hong Sang-soo‘s illegitimate child or Kim Min-hee’s sole family register

According to Dispatch, Kim Min-hee became pregnant naturally with director Hong‘s child last summer. The expected date of birth is said to be this spring. The two, who live together in Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province, are waiting for the child to be born, paying no attention to the eyes of those around them and going for gynecological checkups together.

Director Hong and Kim Min-hee have been together for 9 years, but it is impossible for Kim Min-hee’s child to be registered as their child under the law. This is because Director Hong is still a ‘legally married man’. Director Hong married A, whom he met while studying abroad in the U.S. in 1985, and they had an only daughter, but he abandoned his family after developing an inappropriate relationship with Kim Min-hee, whom he met while working on the 2015 film ‘Right Now, Wrong Then’. Director Hong filed for divorce against his wife A in 2016, but the lawsuit was dismissed.

The child that Kim Min-hee is pregnant with can be registered as an ‘illegitimate child’ in Hong Sang-soo‘s family register or can be registered under Kim Min-hee’s sole family register. If it is registered as Hong Sang-soo‘s illegitimate child, the child’s mother will be Hong Sang-soo‘s wife, A, so it is widely expected that Kim Min-hee will register it under her own sole family register. It has been reported that Person A did not know about Kim Min-hee’s pregnancy until related reports came out.

Will Director Hong‘s 9th Trip to Berlin Succeed?

Meanwhile, attention is focused on whether Director Hong’s new film will be invited to the Berlin International Film Festival. Director Hong has reportedly submitted his 33rd feature-length film and his 16th work with Kim Min-hee to the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, which opens on the 13th of next month. The films invited to the competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival will be announced on the 21st.

Director Hong has been invited to the Berlin International Film Festival a whopping 8 times before, so it is expected that he will easily receive an invitation this year as well. Director Hong was first invited to the competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008 with ‘Night and Day’, and has been in the competition section seven times up until last year. ‘In the Water’, which was invited in 2023, was introduced in the Encounter section, not the competition section.

His award record is also impressive. He won the Best Director Award (Silver Bear) and Best Screenplay Award (Silver Bear) for ‘The Woman Who Ran’ in 2020 and ‘Introduction’ in 2021, respectively, and the Jury Grand Prize (Silver Bear) for ‘The Novelist‘s Film’ in 2022 and ‘The Traveler’s Needs’ last year. In particular, he gave the Best Actress Award (Silver Bear) to Kim Min-hee, who starred in ‘On the Beach at Night Alone’ in 2017. Since admitting to having an affair with Director Hong, Kim Min-hee has only appeared in Director Hong‘s films.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com
This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.