Singer whose life changed in Jeju: 'My wife was the youngest daughter at my regular bathhouse'

Cheon Rokdam (real name Lee Jeong-hee, 44), a singer who switched from ballads to trot music, opened up about how he met his wife, saying his life changed completely after moving to Jeju Island.

Cheon appeared Tuesday on KBS 1TV's "Achim Madang," where he shared a wedding photo showing his wife from behind.

Cheon Rokdam is the trot alter ego singer Lee Jeong created for his appearance on "Mr. Trot 3."

"I've already been a Jeju resident and a Jeju son-in-law for 12 years," he said. "I was originally planning to emigrate, but ended up going to Jeju instead. At the time, I was thinking about quitting my singing career. I chose Jeju because I wanted to live on an island."

"My life changed when I went to Jeju — a completely new life began," he continued. "That's also how I ended up meeting my wife. It's a story I can't leave out of my life. It was a hard and gloomy time for me, and she turned out to be the youngest daughter of a bathhouse I used to visit regularly."

He went on to describe the moment they met. "My mother-in-law suggested I meet her youngest daughter, and I thought she was joking. Then one day, while I was running a small business, she came to pick her up — holding her hand. Apparently she had already decided, 'That one is going to be my son-in-law.'" He added, "When I saw her, I fell for her instantly. A bell went 'ding.' It was an automatic door, and she walked in just as it slid open."

Cheon also revealed that he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer. "If I hadn't gotten married, I never would have known about the illness," he said. "When it was time for my wife to get a comprehensive checkup, she suggested I get a CT scan too. I did it because she told me to. And that's when it was caught at an early stage. Further tests confirmed there was cancer in the kidney. They say kidney cancer is hard to detect early. I was really lucky it was found in time, and the surgery went well."

As Cheon sang his wife's praises, fellow singers on the show, including Chu Hyeok-jin, responded enthusiastically, saying, "She's truly a beauty."

Meanwhile, Lee Jeong made his debut in August 2003 on KBS 2TV's music program "Yoon Do-hyun's Love Letter" and is a singer-songwriter who has released four studio albums. After working across sitcoms, films and variety programs throughout the 2000s, he moved to Jeju Island in 2012 at the urging of his sixth cousin Lee Jae-hun of the group Cool, and has lived there ever since.

jshan@heraldcorp.com