Lee Jae-si, daughter of former footballer Lee Dong-gook
Lee Jae-si, daughter of former footballer Lee Dong-gook

Lee Jae-si, 19, the daughter of former national team footballer Lee Dong-gook, has drawn attention after abruptly abandoning plans to attend the main campus of a prestigious American university.

Lee Dong-gook's wife, Lee Su-jin, shared an update about her daughter on SNS on Wednesday, writing that Jae-si had become an adult and moved out on her own.

"I always used to tell her, 'once you become an adult, you move out and live on your own. You get a part-time job and make it on your own strength. Mom and Dad's support only lasts until then,'" Lee Su-jin said. "But when Jae-si actually told me she was really moving out on her own, I suddenly burst into tears."

She then revealed the unexpected news that "Jae-si gave up on going to New York three days before she was set to leave."

According to Lee Su-jin, Jae-si graduated from the Songdo campus of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), a prestigious fashion school whose main campus is in New York. She entered university two years earlier than her peers, so this year she was set to continue her remaining studies at the New York campus as a junior. At that age, most of her peers are only freshmen. But just three days before her departure, she changed her mind.

Jae-si had initially been set on the idea that she needed to graduate quickly since she had already come this far, but Lee Su-jin said she offered her daughter a different option.

"I told her, 'Is it really right to spend the next two years just for a diploma? Why don't we instead use that time and money to buy more experiences,'" Lee Su-jin said.

"I thought that once it becomes clear what she wants to learn and what kind of study she truly needs, it would not be too late to go back to school then," she added. "I told her that if she studies alongside friends her own age while also having two years of experience gained out in the world beforehand, the Jae-si of that time would be completely different from who she is now. We had a long talk about it, and in the end, Jae-si accepted my thinking."

In the end, Jae-si decided to start a new life in Seoul instead of New York.

"Now she is really living on her own for the first time," Lee Su-jin said in support of her daughter's independence. "Feeding herself, earning her own money, learning how much it costs to live, and taking responsibility for her own schedule — that is what it means to truly become an adult."

"I think the time has come for me to change the kind of love I give her — not the love of doing things for her, but the love of trusting her to do them on her own," she said.


betterj@heraldcorp.com