Comedian Kang Yu-mi is drawing attention with a parody video that appears to target actress Kim Ji-ho.
On the 18th, a video titled "Everyone, it's been a while" was uploaded to "The Channel I Do Because I Like It," which Kang Yu-mi runs.
That day, true to her nickname "anthropologist," Kang Yu-mi humorously detailed the traits of a showy influencer woman. Kang Yu-mi filmed the daily life of a woman whose pharmacist parents run a pharmacy in Jongno and who has a boyfriend working at a foreign conglomerate earning a nine-figure annual salary.
Early in the video, Kang Yu-mi took out a book borrowed from the library and said, "People who give up on self-care are the same as giving up on themselves," and "I read a book every morning. This is my breakfast. Books are food for the mind."
She said, "Every morning after jogging I go to the neighborhood library and borrow a book. Arthur Schopenhauer said this: talent hits a target others cannot hit, but genius hits a target others cannot even see. This is why people don't understand me," she said.
But in the process, Kang Yu-mi was shown casually damaging the borrowed library book by underlining passages with a highlighter and tearing out and folding pages she liked to keep.
Netizens who saw this reacted that Kang Yu-mi might have been gunning for actress Kim Ji-ho, who recently faced a doodling controversy. Last month Kim Ji-ho posted a photo showing a library book with pen underlines and added, "I delayed returning it and finally finished reading it. My phone distracted and disrupted my focus, but the writing kept pulling me in. Watching my father and mother beside me, I look for the deconstructive effect of life that Kim Hoon talks about. It is painful, hard and lonely. That's why the teacher's writing resonates with me. It stings and hurts," she added in a commentary.
After the controversy arose, Kim Ji-ho belatedly posted an apology and bowed her head, saying, "The habit of underlining in my own books came out when I wanted to remember the end of a book I borrowed from a public library. It's ridiculous. When someone pointed it out I said, 'Oh, I'm sorry.' Regarding this book, I will either buy a new copy for the library or cover the cost; I apologize and will replace it. Sometimes I behave carelessly like this. I will take the criticism to heart and be more careful in my actions going forward."
But the controversy deepened when it emerged that Kim Ji-ho had not been the first to scribble in public library books. In fact, past reading verification photos she posted showed the same pen underlining on a book with a library barcode. Some netizens reacted coldly, saying, "It seems it wasn't a mistake but a habitual practice."
At the end of the video, a narration saying, "I cried for a long time because I was upset. But thinking about it, didn't I have pharmacist parents who run a large pharmacy in Jongno and a boyfriend working at a foreign conglomerate earning a nine-figure annual salary? Thinking about the precious people around me gave me strength again. The driving force of my life. I love people who are like vitamins," prompted speculation that it was a parody of something Jung Sang-jeong posted in the past on "EXchange / Transit Love."
Jung Sang-jeong in 2024 posted, "I met the best parents in the world, grew up comfortably without lack, have an older sister and younger sibling who are always on my side, an Olympic gold medal, and a pension until I die; the path I've lived was special, so the path ahead is special, too; I was born lucky and am a bundle of fortune, so I feel pathetic at times when my self-esteem drops," and, "Oh right, my whole family are doctors and my boyfriend was a doctor too, right(?)" She received criticism from netizens and deleted the posts. Some, however, expressed discomfort and called it hypocritical to make content using another person's controversy or wrongdoing.
[Photo] Kang Yu-mi YouTube
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