Former CNBLUE member Lee Jong-hyun. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse) provided]
Former CNBLUE member Lee Jong-hyun. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse) provided]

Former CNBLUE member Lee Jong-hyun has broken his long public silence.

On Monday, Lee wrote on his Instagram that he had left the account dormant for eight years, adding that it had been hacked and that he had already submitted a request to change the username and profile description.

"There were a few years when I turned my back on the world," he wrote. "After that, I learned to work in order to live. It's a small thing, but for eight years I've been finding real satisfaction in beauty marketing and building genuine expertise in it."

He added, "This is what my days look like now — attending meetings, digging into products, thinking about how I can do better."

Photos posted alongside the message show him focused on work, looking every bit the ordinary office employee.

"I leave in the morning and come home at night," he wrote. "I've come to understand just how hard it is to live an ordinary life working like everyone else. I think every single person doing that is remarkable."

He went on to say that going forward, he intended to connect with more people "as Lee Jong-hyun the person."

The post drew comments from users in South Korea and abroad. Fans in Japan and Indonesia said they had been waiting for him, while domestic commenters expressed relief that he was doing well.

Others, however, pointed to references to CNBLUE still visible in his username and called on him to remove them.

Lee debuted in 2010 as a member of the four-piece band CNBLUE. He later pursued an acting career, appearing in the SBS drama "A Gentleman's Dignity," the KBS 2TV series "Lingerie Girls' Generation" and the OCN drama "My Strange Hero."

Lee was swept up in controversy in 2019 when it emerged that he had been a member of a group chat run by Jung Joon-young, who was at the center of a scandal involving the illegal filming and distribution of intimate videos.

At the time, Lee voluntarily withdrew from CNBLUE, saying he was sorry that his bandmates had been harmed because of him. "I deeply regret my wrongdoing and will humbly accept all criticism directed at me," he said. "I sincerely apologize for causing trouble through this incident."


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