Former comedian sexually harasses man, homosexuality questioned

Baek Jae-hyun

Former comedian Baek Jae-hyun’s sexual identity is being questioned by the public after police apprehended him on Tuesday for sexually harassing a man in a public bathhouse.

On last Sunday, the 45-year-old comedian, who has been directing theater acts and musical shows in recent years, allegedly approached the victim who was sleeping in the public bathhouse in Jongno-gu district, northern Seoul, and sexually harassed him.

Hyehwa police arrested Baek without a warrant. Baek, who married in 2002 and divorced two years after, reportedly admitted his crime according to local news outlets on Wednesday.

The public now questions whether Baek is homosexual. Some media outlets highlighted TV footage from TV network JTBC’s talk show Witch Hunt, where one of the show’s hosts, Shin Dong-yup, divulged that a male celebrity he knew had hidden his homosexuality and married to a woman. The public now asks whether the person Shin had mentioned in the show could be Baek.

Baek made headlines in 2012 when he appeared as a guest in TV network YTN’s news show and said he had received a double jaw surgery without telling his family. When he returned home after recovering from the surgery, his mother had told him she was “sorry for his ugliness” and cried, he said in the show.

Baek debuted in state-run TV network KBS as a comedian in 1993.