Singer-songwriter Yoo Hee-yeol appears in public for the first time in over three years since halting broadcasts amid plagiarism controversy. /Courtesy of Jung Tae-young via social networking service (SNS)

Yoo Hee-yeol (54), a singer-songwriter who halted activities after a plagiarism controversy, appeared in public for the first time in three years.

Chung Tae-young, vice chairman of Hyundai Card, wrote on his social networking service (SNS) on the 24th, "A 90-minute talk show at the Davinci Motel, where I talked broadly with Yoo Hee-yeol, including culture and personal history. Before going on stage, there was a brief stillness of looking back on life and a heavy tension, so there weren't many words."

The photo shows Yoo Hee-yeol and the vice chairman Chung sitting side by side and talking.

Singer-songwriter Yoo Hee-yeol is doing a talk show with Jung Tae-young, vice chairman of Hyundai Card. /Courtesy of Vice Chairman Jung Tae-young via social networking service (SNS)

On the 20th, Hyundai Card hosted a talk concert featuring the vice chairman Chung and Yoo Hee-yeol at the "Davinci Motel" event held in Itaewon, Seoul. Yoo Hee-yeol said, "I have never once talked about my true feelings since the controversy," and "There are many things in the world that I cannot do by my own power."

Regarding suspicions that "A Very Private Night," a song released in 2022, is similar to Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Aqua," Yoo Hee-yeol apologized, saying, "He is the musician who has influenced me the most and whom I respect over a long time, so I unconsciously used a similar progression." He then stepped down from KBS music program "Yoo Hee-yeol's Sketchbook" and suspended broadcasting activities, and in April this year he made a temporary return as a special DJ on MBC Radio's "Bae Chul-soo's Music Camp."

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