Oksun shares apology message from person who spread false rumors about her

A scene from Naneun Solo Season 31. [SBS Plus, ENA]
A scene from Naneun Solo Season 31. [SBS Plus, ENA]

Oksun (real name Jo I-hyeon), a contestant on Season 31 of the dating reality show "Naneun Solo" (I Am Solo) who became embroiled in a backstabbing controversy, has revealed the identity of the person who spread malicious and false rumors about her.

In an apology message sent to Oksun, the individual admitted to being a parent of two who posted the false information as paid work through a mom cafe — an online community forum for mothers.

On Wednesday, Oksun shared on her personal social media account an apology message she received from the person, identified only as A, who had spread the false claims.

A said, "I have two children and have been getting by on a single income, so I was doing part-time work writing posts on a mom cafe to help cover living expenses," and added, "I wrote the posts using the keywords about Oksun that were provided to me by the mom cafe operator at the time."

A then said, "But I did not think deeply enough about how much pain this could cause Oksun," and acknowledged, "It is clearly my fault that I posted the content without fully considering the consequences of the words and expressions I used, all for the sake of earning money."

A also said, "I sincerely apologize to Oksun for the hurt and inconvenience my posts caused," and said the posts had been deleted to prevent further circulation.

Oksun, reacting to A's message, said she was baffled. "It's truly bizarre. Who am I, that a company would hand out keywords based on nothing but what they saw of me on TV, spread false information, and actually make money off of it by posting comments?"

Oksun added, "At the time, things kept coming up that even I knew nothing about, and I wondered what on earth was going on — who told the company to use those keywords, and what kind of world were we living in?"

Earlier, Oksun had been at the center of the so-called "three gossipers" controversy involving fellow contestant Sunja during the Season 31 broadcast in April. After the show ended, she appeared on a live broadcast of the YouTube channel "Village Chief Entertainment TV" and apologized to Sunja, saying, "I sincerely apologize for the hurt caused by my meddling and words that passed themselves off as honesty. I will not stop at an apology — even if it is not accepted, I will live knowing I was sorry and that I was wrong."

She also denied various rumors surrounding her, including speculation about marriage, pregnancy and a meeting of the families, saying none of it was true.

When the controversy refused to die down, Oksun suspended her social media activity. On Oct. 26, she returned to post a statement saying, "Since the broadcast, the repeated spread of false information and distorted stories online has made it difficult for me to carry on a normal life," and that she was "pursuing legal action on the relevant matters."

She said there was "one point I most want to set straight," adding, "I am not a perpetrator who led bullying."

She went on to say, "I never intentionally excluded or ostracized anyone on set. We were simply fellow cast members of the same season. The claim that I persistently bullied someone I had no particular relationship with — someone I never even met separately inside or outside of filming — is not true."


jshan@heraldcorp.com