Broadcaster Seo Dong-ju mentioned her biological father, the late Seo Se-won, who died in Cambodia.
On the 12th, the "Sebasi Lecture" channel uploaded a video titled "How to embrace a life of loss and frustration and get up and live again."
In the video, Seo Dong-ju said, "Fortunately, after overcoming various pains and reaching a positive point again, I received a proposal about this book and gladly accepted it. During those hard times I actually wrote not with the aim of publishing a book but like my diary. Fortunately, those writings had been gathered. Naturally, my worries and pains and those times were reflected in the finished book," and she shared news of publishing a book called "Perfect Imperfections."
Afterward, she talked about the book. Regarding the piece that became a hot topic with the line "I resembled my father in many ways," Seo Dong-ju said, "It was one of the pieces included in 'San Francisco Stranger.' At that time my father was still alive, and when I thought of my father I thought of that as love and hate, didn't I? In Korean. I loved him so much but also hated him so much. I wanted to show my best side but also felt so resentful. Those very complicated feelings made it always difficult," and she expressed candid feelings about the late Seo Se-won.
She went on, "When I looked at my father I saw so many similarities to myself that I didn't want to admit them. But there was a complicated feeling from realizing I resembled that person. I wrote that because I didn't want to hate him I chose not to hate, and because I didn't want to be disappointed I chose not to be disappointed. I think I had those feelings. When I wrote that piece many people told me, 'Thank you so much for writing about that,' 'Thank you for being so honest,' many said that to me. I wondered why they thanked me when I was just talking about myself. Looking back now, there are so many songs, poems and writings about ideal mothers and fathers, but there aren't many for children who aren't like that. So I think people were greatly comforted," she revealed.
Seo Dong-ju explained, "Because the book I recently wrote was written after my father passed away, it includes some stories about my father, and I was actually surprised. I wrote about beginnings and challenges and such, but about four sections contain my father's story. After finishing, I thought there were too many stories about my father, but the editor said it was okay because they had a different tone. She said it would be okay because it contains stories of suffering over it, rising above it, forgetting it and moving on, so those kinds of stories are included."
In particular, she recalled the consecutive bad news surrounding the late Seo Se-won's death, saying, "When my father died we actually held two funerals. One in Cambodia and one in Korea. During that process my dog Chloe, an old dog I raised, was blind, deaf and in pain. She had been severely abused before and had been a breeding dog at a puppy mill, so when I wasn't there she became very ill. Eventually she came close to death. So on the same day as my father's funeral we also held Chloe's funeral."
She added, "Going through those two events made life feel so hollow. Why had I struggled and lived until now? It can disappear in an instant. Even healthy Chloe was gone within weeks. I kept thinking I wanted to suddenly leave this world. My father was gone, my mother was sick with cancer and we were in financial hardship. What reason is there to live? Is there any reason to live when it's this empty? I think I had those thoughts. So to avoid dying I wrote and painted. The moments I painted and wrote were the times I could comfort myself a lot," she poured out her painful feelings.
Meanwhile, Seo Dong-ju is the daughter of comedian-turned-pastor the late Seo Se-won and Seo Jeong-hee. The late Seo Se-won and Seo Jeong-hee married in 1982 and had Seo Dong-ju, but they divorced in 2015. He remarried in 2016 to a woman 23 years his junior and had a daughter. He moved to Cambodia with his new wife and daughter, but in April 2023 he suddenly died locally in Cambodia at age 67. It was reported he died of shock while receiving an IV at a hospital in Phnom Penh, and Cambodian police determined he died of cardiac arrest due to diabetic complications, but some raised suspicions of medical malpractice. The bereaved family attempted to transport the late Seo Se-won's body to Korea for an autopsy, but due to local circumstances the body was cremated in Cambodia without an autopsy.
[Photo] Sebasi
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