Shares update on social media

'Having such a fun recovery at home'

Actress Kim Min-kyung. (Kim Min-kyung's Instagram)
Actress Kim Min-kyung. (Kim Min-kyung's Instagram)

Actress Kim Min-kyung, 45, is drawing attention for skipping a postpartum care center despite giving birth for the first time at an advanced age.

Her choice comes as a refreshing surprise. Reports have often surfaced of celebrities using luxury postpartum care centers that cost tens of millions of won for a two-week stay.

According to entertainment industry sources Thursday, Kim shared a video and photos on her personal social media account along with a caption that read, "My decision not to go to a postpartum care center is the right one, even if I think about it 22,000 times."

The video showed her newborn wrapped in a swaddle inside a crib, with just two tiny feet peeking out.

"Thank you to everyone who was worried about me, especially my husband's friends," she said, adding, "But I'm having such a fun recovery at home with Ji-o."

Kim also posted a selfie, writing, "It's been a while. I washed my hair for the first time in a week."

In the photo, Kim lies on a bed in a sleeveless top with light makeup, smiling. Her face, free of any swelling that would suggest she had just given birth, showed off her natural beauty.

Kim, a former Miss Korea who rose to fame as an actress, married a non-celebrity in 2024, announced her pregnancy in April and recently gave birth to a son.

Meanwhile, postpartum care centers are facilities that support new mothers' recovery and newborn care immediately after childbirth. They are most expensive in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "Second-Half 2025 Nationwide Postpartum Care Center Status" report. The average price of premium suites at Seoul's 94 postpartum care centers was 8.1 million won ($6,050) for a two-week stay, the highest in the country. That is up 480,000 won, or 5.9 percent, from 7.62 million won in the first half of the same year.

In Gangnam alone, the average fee for premium suites at 17 centers reached 17.32 million won, up 1.32 million won, or 8.2 percent, from the first-half average of 16 million won.

Center D in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, had the highest premium suite fee at 50.4 million won, followed by Center M, also in Gangnam-gu, at 29 million won.

For standard rooms, Center H in Gangnam-gu topped the list at 17 million won, followed by Center M at 16 million won.


jshan@heraldcorp.com