"Jinttobaegi" origin singer Lee Seong-woo left us seven years ago.
Dec. 18, 2025, is the seventh anniversary of the death of the late Lee Seong-woo. He died on Dec. 18, 2018, at age 59 after battling pancreatic cancer.
Born in 1959, Lee Seong-woo endured long years as an unknown singer until 2003, when he released the song "Jinttobaegi," which used a regional Gangwon dialect word for sotdae and treated a folk theme that prayed for sailors' safety; the song began to bring him public recognition. The addictive chorus and the late singer's bold, clear singing in "Jinttobaegi" spread by word of mouth, becoming a karaoke favorite, and Lee Seong-woo toured festival stages across the country, nurturing his dream of becoming a late-blooming star.
Sadly, the late singer closed his eyes before he could fully witness his song's nationwide "syndrome." After Lee Seong-woo's death, in 2020, on TV CHOSUN's Mr. Trot, Lee Chan-won sang the song and "Jinttobaegi" entered a second heyday. After Lee Chan-won's performance it climbed back up the charts and was crowned a national song, but the original singer Lee Seong-woo was not there to share that moment of glory, which moved many people with regret.
Lee Seong-woo's legacy is being carried on by his son Lee Seung-hwan. Following in his father's footsteps as a trot singer, Lee Seung-hwan has been growing in his career; after appearing on "Bultaneun Trotman" in 2022, he released "Sewol Arirang" in 2024 and has continued active promotions.
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