Former K-Pop Idol Breaks Silence On Child Support Controversy With Ex-Wife, Explains Why It’s Only 850,000 Won (Around $600) A Month

Former U-KISS member Eli (35) has personally addressed the controversy over his son’s child support payments.

On October 5, Eli posted a lengthy message on his social media account to explain the child support controversy that recently arose. Eli said, “I’ve seen a lot of comments calling me trash or saying I’m stingy over my child’s support,” adding, “I don’t want to talk about this publicly, but I’ll explain how the child support came to be 850,000 won.”

At the time of the divorce, Eli discussed child support for their son with his ex-wife Ji Yeon Soo, and Eli said he wanted to send money whenever their son needed something rather than pay a fixed amount each month. Eli explained, “Whenever an expense related to our son came up, like needing to buy something for school or going out to eat, I sent money,” adding, “At the time, for 3 to 4 months, I sent $6,000 to $8,000 (about 8.07 to 10.76 million won) every month.”

During that period, Eli said he saw that Ji Yeon Soo had appeared on the 2021 SBS Plus variety show “Kang Ho Dong’s Bapsim.” Eli said, “There, she publicly mentioned that I wasn’t paying child support. The money I sent wasn’t officially designated as child support, but from my perspective, it was money sent to help with living expenses.” He continued, “More than anything, what hurt me was seeing someone I used to work with agree when I was called a ‘monster.’ I was deeply hurt, as if my character and even my dignity as a man were being attacked.”

Even so, Eli said he didn’t publicly explain himself and kept sending as much money as he could, but the situation grew harder and he began worrying he might have to take on debt. Eli recalled, “It was during the pandemic, and I was living on minimum wage at the time. So I had to dip into the savings I had worked hard to build up until then,” adding, “That situation was also one of several reasons that ultimately influenced the decision to set child support at 850,000 won a month.”

Eli continued, “Without knowing this background, I think some people would get a bad impression of me just from hearing the amount. If anyone was disappointed or hurt by the publicly known child support amount, I’m sorry about that. But I don’t want to apologize for the circumstances that forced me to make that decision at the time.” He added, “Even now, whenever I get to see my son, I give him the money he needs.”

He also said, “I wanted to be as honest and transparent as possible, which is why I’m sharing my story, but the truth is I didn’t want to bring this up from the start. I also hope I never have to talk about something like this publicly again. For me, my son is far more important than winning an argument.” He concluded, “There are two sides to everything. If God allows it, I believe the truth will eventually come out.”

Eli registered his marriage with model and TV personality Ji Yeon Soo in 2014 and welcomed their son in 2016. They held an official wedding ceremony in 2017, but divorced in 2020, six years after registering their marriage. They have a son together. After the divorce, Ji Yeon Soo said on “Kang Ho Dong’s Bapsim” in 2021 that she wasn’t receiving child support, and later, on TV Chosun’s “We Got Divorced 2” in 2022, the two appeared together and hinted that child support was being paid. In June of this year, Ji Yeon Soo revealed that she receives 850,000 won a month in child support from Eli, after which some netizens pointed out that the amount seemed too small.

Also in June, Eli announced his remarriage 6 years after his first divorce.

Source: (A)