Bae Myung-ho and Jeong Hye-won [SNS]
Bae Myung-ho and Jeong Hye-won [SNS]

The ex-wife of mixed martial arts fighter Bae Myung-ho, 39, has come forward with allegations that he failed to pay child support and did not fulfill agreements made at the time of their divorce.

Jeong Hye-won posted a statement on her Instagram on Tuesday saying she had initiated legal proceedings against Bae.

In the statement, Jeong said she had been left to manage the fallout from her former partner's repeated behavioral problems throughout their marriage and had to raise their young child alone while those problems persisted. "I also recommended professional treatment to resolve the issues, but the same problems kept recurring, and incidents that undermined trust between us as a couple continued as well," she said.

Jeong said the hardest period came in 2024, when their child — then 17 months old — was repeatedly hospitalized with pneumonia. "He suddenly left the family, and I did not even know why," she said. She added that he began posting on social media about overseas trips, parties and vacations almost immediately after leaving. "He continued to publicly share that kind of lifestyle on social media," she said.

Jeong said she and her family visited Bae to persuade him to return, but he did not come back. The two eventually finalized their divorce by mutual agreement.

Even after the divorce, Bae did not fulfill his responsibilities as a parent, Jeong said. He not only failed to pay child support but also frequently broke promises to visit the child, leaving the child repeatedly disappointed. "I am currently pursuing separate legal judgments on the ongoing nonpayment of child support, the unfulfilled terms agreed upon at the time of the divorce, various financial burdens including personal debts of his that I had to resolve on his behalf, and matters that arose during the marriage and throughout the breakdown of our relationship," she said.

Jeong said Bae had promised before and after bouts to resolve various financial matters, but after winning a fight he posted on social media about traveling abroad and has since avoided contact, child support payments and fulfillment of agreed terms.

Bae is a mixed martial arts fighter who won the welterweight championship at the Legend Fighting Championship in 2011. He became more widely known to the public after appearing on the KBS2 variety program "1 Night 2 Days" in 2018.

Bae and Jeong married in November 2019 and have since divorced.


paq@heraldcorp.com