[DiaryPoint = Reporter Choi Seung-jin] Actor Lee Chang-hoon denied rumors that he and Song Hye-kyo had once been a couple in an interview on the YouTube channel “Yoojung and Joojung,” released November 6. “No. I swear,” he said, adding that both he and Song were seeing other people at the time.
Lee said he saw Song as “a really good younger friend” and someone he “wanted to protect,” explaining that he did not have romantic feelings for her. Asked recently about the old dating rumors, he said he replies, “Think what you want”—a joking way of brushing off the story.
He traced the rumors to the storyline in SBS sitcom Soonpoong Clinic. After Song’s character was shown having a crush on Lee’s character, viewers on Unitel and Chollian, Korean online services popular before widespread internet access, commented that the pair looked good together. Reporters also asked what it would be like if the two dated, he recalled.
Lee said he was in his mid-30s at the time, while Song was around 20. He said he was angered by media reports describing the age-gap pairing with the term “wonjo gyoje,” a derogatory Korean expression associated with adults exploiting minors, and that he confronted reporters about it. The term reflects the inflammatory language used in some coverage; it is not evidence of a real relationship.
Soonpoong Clinic is an SBS sitcom that began airing in 1998. Episode descriptions published by SBS also show Oh Hye-kyo, played by Song, having a crush on Lee’s character. The interview offered no evidence that their on-screen relationship became a real-life romance; Lee reiterated that they were not a couple.
Lee made his acting debut in 1989 as part of MBC’s 19th open recruitment class of television actors. His credits include Mother’s Sea (1993), M (1994), Propose (1997), Soonpoong Clinic (1998) and Age of Wanderers (2002). The rumors about Song appear to have grown from her character’s crush and speculation at the time. In the interview, Lee focused on distinguishing the sitcom’s storyline from the relationship he says they had in real life.