Dong Yi Actor Quits Drama

Choi Chol-ho as Oh Yoon in Dong Yi, MBC

Dong Yi actor, Choi Chul-ho (40) who plays Oh Yoon, (the nephew of the leader of the southern faction Oh Tae Suk)  held a press conference on the 11th and voluntarily quit the drama in response to public criticism over an incident he was involved in one evening last week.

According to newspaper reports, Choi Chul-ho was out drinking with his fubae (junior) from the drama, actor Son Il-gwon (33) and a young female actress in her 20s. At around 2 am he got into a drunken quarrel with the young woman and then with other people sitting at other tables too. In the midst of all this he allegedly physically assaulted her. According to police reports Choi Chul-ho said that the young woman was Son Il gwon’s girlfriend and denied hitting her, but according to Son Il-gwon, she was not his girlfriend and in fact he had only been introduced to the young woman that night  as an acquaintance of Choi Chul-ho.

Although he strongly denied assaulting the young woman, CCTV footage from the scene aired on the 8 o’clock news on SBS the following day showed him grabbing the woman and kicking her. Korean netizens were especially critical of him as he lied about what he had done until proof was presented.

During the press conference he apologized to the cast of Dong Yi, to his family and to the public and expressed shame over his behaviour. He blamed it on too much alcohol and said that he lied because he was afraid for his career and that after finally becoming popular as an actor he was about to lose that popularity again. He also said that he deserved punishment and so would voluntarily quit his role in Dong Yi.