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Lee Min-young under medical care.
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Lee Min-young says marriage of only 12 days marked by violence
Television actress Lee Min-young is accusing her husband of domestic violence, saying actor Yi Chan broke her nose, threw one of her fingers out of joint, and caused the miscarriage of her 15-week-old fetus.
The two, both 30, were married in December.
Lee’s lawyer, Kim Jae-cheol, said she intends to appear at a press conference Tuesday morning to give her version of events and tell her fans why she is filing for a divorce less than a month after a highly publicized wedding ceremony.
Lee’s elder brother alleges his sister’s miscarriage was caused when Yi kicked her stomach while the two were riding in an automobile on December 19.
"The nose reconstruction surgery went less than perfectly and family is trying to determine whether to perform surgery again," said the brother. The two television personalities mutually consented to a divorce 12 days after their wedding but never publicly discussed their reasons. It was Lee’s hospitalization that led to the allegations of domestic violence becoming public knowledge. In an interview with an internet news outlet from her hospital bed, Lee said she had been "repeatedly been beaten (by Yi) for the smallest of reasons," but that each time he would "kneel and beg forgiveness the next day." "I had a new life growing inside of me and had already made my mind up to go through with the marriage," she said. "I forgave him each time because I believed things would get better once we were formally married." Yi’s only comment to the press as of New Year’s was that he is "confused" and "will have an official position after making sense of things." Yi is currently appearing in a television drama on the SBS network. The program’s official website has been inundated with calls by viewers for him to be removed from the program in the wake of the accusations. Korea continues to see cases in which female entertainment figures file for divorce because of domestic violence. Comedians Lee Gyeong-sil and Kim Mi-hwa divorced in 2003 and 2005, respectively, on such charges, and actress Choe Jin-sil divorced her husband, a professional baseball player, in 2004 in what was a very public domestic violence case. "This latest case has to be thoroughly investigated so as to sound an alarm in society," said Park Myeong-hye of the Women’s Violence Crisis Hotline. "It's time to be proactive about domestic violence and stop having the victims hide what is happening to them." Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
