An Jae-wook in a photo with his daughter. [An Jae-wook's Instagram]
An Jae-wook in a photo with his daughter. [An Jae-wook's Instagram]

Actor An Jae-wook, 55, has shared how a noise complaint was filed while he was serving as emcee at his elementary school-aged daughter's sports day.

An appeared Wednesday on MBC variety program "Radio Star," where he spoke about devoting much of his time lately to raising his children.

He became a father for the first time at 45 and welcomed a son at 50. He is now raising a fourth-grade daughter and a 6-year-old son.

"I feel so keenly how precious my relationship with my children is," An said. "Because I started making memories with them so late, I have less time left with them than younger fathers do. During any break from work, I try to spend as much time with them as possible."

An said he actively takes part in school events, including reading to students and emceeing the sports day.

He then carefully brought up an unexpected complaint he received while hosting the event.

"I'm not sure if I should say this, but what saddened me was that near the end, I was told complaints had come in from the neighborhood — that the children's cheers and the music were too loud," An said. "So I said, 'The sports day only lasts a few hours a year — how can that possibly be considered noise?'"

He added, with undisguised bitterness, "Don't we all have memories from elementary school? Why would a handful of adults try to take away something so precious from these children?"

Musical actor Jeong Yeong-ju, who appeared on the same episode, expressed sympathy, saying, "I actually moved to a place near a school on purpose — I wanted to hear those sounds."


paq@heraldcorp.com