Broadcaster Seo Dong-ju mentioned the death of her biological father, the late Seo Se-won.
On the Nov. 11 episode of tvN STORY's "What's the point of leaving it behind," Seo Hee-won and Seo Dong-ju, mother and daughter, appeared and talked.
That day Lee Young-ja asked cautiously, "The last thing I wanted to ask Dong-ju is that now mom has a good man and I also have a good person, so only happy things should be ahead, but didn't you hear that mom was in the early stages of breast cancer a few years ago? Weren't you surprised?"
Seo Dong-ju admitted, "I was extremely surprised. Why did something like that have to happen to my mom? I was so shocked and embarrassed that I became like a robot. How painful would my mother's pain have to be for her to be sick enough to lose all her hair? Seeing those things was so agonizing."
In particular, Seo Dong-ju referred to the late Seo Se-won's death, saying, "It was on the news back then, so everyone knows, but my father also passed away." The late Seo Se-won died after receiving an IV at a hospital in Cambodia on April, 2023. Cambodian police said the cause of death was cardiac arrest due to diabetes, but various conspiracy theories about his death later emerged. Amid this, although Seo Dong-ju had been estranged from the late Seo Se-won, she said, "I thought it was my duty as a daughter to see my father's last moments," and stayed with him through his final moments. At the crematorium, she drew sympathy by collapsing in front of the coffin and sobbing uncontrollably.
Regarding this, Seo Dong-ju candidly said, "Whatever the circumstances, family seems sad regardless of the relationships within it. Of course, there were times when I didn't speak to him. And for various reasons I can't talk about on broadcasts. People see only a small iceberg, but beneath it there are tremendous stories, aren't there? We all live without saying everything. Because of those things, I sometimes thought, 'Of course it wouldn't be sad,' but it was still painful. It was sad, and at that time I often thought, why did things that might come to others in bits and pieces all come at once to us?"
She recalled, "It was very hard. Especially when my mother went in for surgery, her back looked so childlike. Mom was small and thin, wasn't she? She went in with pigtails. Mom deliberately went in smiling. But when the door closed, I saw her wipe her tears. That's when I cried loudly in the hospital. Because it was so sad—my mother's back. I cried a lot. Without saying anything. Then when my mother came out, I cried again."
Seo Jeong-hee said, "I have experienced pain, been ill, and truly hit rock bottom and lived with nothing. Through all these experiences, even if I don't look like someone who wouldn't suffer, I have been through everything I would have to go through," and Seo Dong-ju comforted her, saying, "You endured well."
Seo Jeong-hee said, "When I reinterpret all those things, each time hardship came I always thought, 'I am blessed,' so it wasn't as hard," and Seo Dong-ju expressed relief, saying, "The man understands mom so well, so I'm really glad he's here."
Meanwhile, Seo Jeong-hee married Seo Se-won, who was six years her senior, in 1983 at age 20, and gave birth to daughter Seo Dong-ju and son Seo Jong-woo. But in 2014 Seo Jeong-hee shocked the public by revealing she had been sexually assaulted by Seo Se-won and lived as a victim of domestic violence even after the arranged marriage. She later divorced by agreement in 2015, and Seo Se-won was sentenced to six months in prison with a two-year suspended sentence on charges of injuring Seo Jeong-hee.
[Photo] tvN STORY
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