Singer Shim Su-bong. [Sony Music]
Singer Shim Su-bong. [Sony Music]

Singer Shim Su-bong, who sparked controversy after publicly criticizing her junior colleague Kim Da-hyun, is set to take the stage again next month. The incident has also renewed public interest in Shim's turbulent past.

Shim will perform at the "2026 THE Shim Su-bong SHOW Wonju" at Baekun Art Hall in Musil-dong, Wonju, Gangwon Province, on Oct. 31. The roughly two-hour show is one stop on her ongoing nationwide tour this year.

Shim performed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in August, followed by a show in Muan, South Jeolla Province, on Sept. 13. She has also performed in Hanam, Gwangyang, Gyeongju, Busan, Ansan, Bucheon, Guri, Seoul, Gunsan, Suwon, Gongju, Sejong, Geoje, Gwangmyeong and Daejeon as part of the tour.

The Wonju concert will mark her return to the stage roughly a month after she performed at the 10th Jinan Highland Trot Festival in Jinan-gun, North Jeolla Province, on Sept. 20 — and comes in the wake of her public remarks targeting trot singer Kim Da-hyun, who is 54 years her junior.

At the festival, Shim took the stage after Kim and said the younger singer appeared to be "a young lady who doesn't know what singing is, or what life is," adding that listening to her performance had been difficult.

Shim went on to say, "Please don't put that performer on before me," and added, "Singing is not something you do carelessly. Music that comforts everyone — that comes from living life, going through hardship — is not something that comes easily."

As the remarks spread and the backlash grew, Shim issued a public apology, saying she had "no excuse" for making "remarks that crossed the line at an inappropriate moment at a trot festival where everyone should have been laughing and having fun."

The controversy has also brought renewed attention to Shim's difficult past.

Shim has said in past broadcast appearances that she was diagnosed with a rare condition called cerebral nerve inflammation around the age of 16, and that she spent time recuperating on her doctor's advice to avoid loud sounds.

She also endured serious hardship after being present at the scene of the Oct. 26, 1979 assassination of President Park Chung-hee.

Shim has said she was forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital following the incident and, despite insisting she had no mental illness, was injected with drugs. She has also recalled that her husband was taken away and tortured, and that she was forced to listen to his cries of pain from an adjacent room.

Barred from broadcast activities afterward, Shim rebuilt her career performing at nightclubs and cabarets, and staged a comeback in 1984 when "Namjaneun Bae Yeojaneun Hanggu" ("A Man Is a Ship, a Woman Is a Harbor") became a major hit.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com