Lee Min Ho’s rumored girlfriend Jung Eun Chae has survived two extramarital affairs with married men.
In the Korean entertainment industry, a celebrity’s personal life is always a matter of sensitivity, as it can make or break their career in a sweep. So actors and idols are always cautious about sharing intimate details, which includes their love lives. While the mindset around celebrity dating is slowly changing, controversies involving extramarital affairs are still big deals that could forever mar a public figure’s popularity.
But a famous actress’s career has miraculously survived not one but two such scandals. Her name is Jung Eun Chae, and she is best known for her character Goo Seo Ryung in The King: Eternal Monarch. Not only that, she was also rumored to be dating actor Lee Min Ho after The King: Eternal Monarch ended. Seasoned K-Entertainment fans might also recognize her from shows like Return and The Guest or movies like The Fatal Encounter and The King.
In 2020, when her role in The King: Eternal Monarch significantly escalated her popularity, netizens became interested in discovering more about the actress. That is when the controversy of her past affair with vocalist Jung Joon Il got revived.
Jung Joon Il is a beloved singer known for his K-Drama OSTs, including the iconic track “The First Snow” from the Guardian: The Lonely and Great God series. In 2012, it was reported that Jung was in the process of getting a divorce from his wife, “A,” whom he had married in 2011. His ex-wife revealed that she and Jung had been dating since 2006, and between late 2009 to mid-2010, she found out that he had also been seeing Jung Eun Chae. Though Jung Joon Il promised not to cheat again, “A” claimed that even after their marriage, he couldn’t stop seeing the actress.
Jung’s ex-wife explained that the singer never apologized for his behavior and eventually asked for a divorce. His “shamelessness” led “A” to drop the full story online on his fan page.
At the time of this exposé, Jung Eun Chae insisted that Jung Joon Il had kept his marriage a secret from her. The public didn’t find it hard to believe, given that nobody, up until this controversy, had any idea that Jung Joon Il was married. In fact, he kept his marital status so well hidden that the only speculations about his love life were fans guessing that he was dating Jung Eun Chae because she would frequently be spotted at his concerts. Jung Eun Chae avoided harsh criticism from the public as they believed she got tricked into dating a married man.
However, when this decade-old scandal resurfaced in 2020, Jung Joon Il’s agency issued an official statement claiming that the actress “definitely knew” about his marriage.
Jung Eun Chae definitely knew about Jung Joon Il being married at the time she was romantically involved with him. It makes no sense that she didn’t know about his wife. Right now, it sounds like Jung Joon Il intentionally hid his marital status and tricked Jung Eun Chae into the relationship. This is not true at all but he is being ruthlessly criticized.
This incident was followed by another adulterous scandal involving Jung Eun Chae just a year later. In 2013, the famous Japanese magazine FRIDAY reported that the actress was spotted on dates with Japanese actor Kase Ryo. Ryo and Jung got acquainted while working on the Korean movie Hill of Freedom. According to the magazine’s reports, the two were seen in Kanagawa together and stayed at the same hotel in Tokyo.
At that time, Kase Ryo was also reportedly living with his long-term girlfriend, Mikako Ichikawa, a famous Japanese actress. This was Jung’s second scandal for two consecutive years, and her then-agency (Blue Dragon Entertainment) soon denied the reports.
According to Jung’s agency, the movie’s director Hong Sang Su and the main cast, Kase Ryo, Moon So Ri, and Jung Eun Chae, had planned a trip together to Japan. But due to a scheduling conflict, only Jung ended up traveling and met Ryo in Japan. The two were said to be close friends, and Ryo had offered to show Jung around.
Despite going through these back-to-back scandals, Jung Eun Chae’s career excelled in the following years as she appeared in multiple dramas and blockbuster movies. But what is the actor up to these days?
After leaving Blue Dragon Entertainment, Jung signed with KeyEast in 2019 and remained under their management for three years. Recently, she made headlines after leaving the company and establishing her one-man agency with her long-time manager.
