Baek Il-seop's Daughter: "It's Been 7 Years Since I Cut Ties with My Father... I Was Even Nervous at the Sound of a Car"

Revealing True Feelings After 7 Years of Estrangement
"I Should Have Divorced... I Wanted to Support Mom"

Broadcaster Baek Il-seop reunited with his daughter after seven years of no contact following their 'jolhon' (graduated divorce).

Baek Il-seop's daughter, Baek Ji-eun, confessed her true feelings toward her father on TV Chosun's "Dad and Me," which aired on the 24th. Baek said, "Why not just get a divorce? Why appear on TV calling it 'jolhon'?" She added, "If the relationship is bad, it's better to cleanly separate and divorce. Packing up and leaving after a fight and then announcing 'it's jolhon' isn't the usual way, is it?"

Broadcaster Baek Il-seop and his daughter [Image source=TV Chosun broadcast]

She continued, "At that time, I wanted to fully support my mother alone," explaining the reason for cutting ties with Baek Il-seop for seven years after the jolhon. She said, "It's awkward to face each other again. So much time has passed that saying 'I'm sorry' feels awkward. I've never had a positive experience talking with my dad, and whenever my mother or old stories come up, he would get angry. Since he has a hot temper, when the two of them talk, I feel nervous," she elaborated.

Regarding her father Baek Il-seop, she recalled, "Sometimes he was in a good mood when he came home drunk, but like people from the old days, he also flipped the dining table and got angry. I remember living in tension." She added, "We lived in a house deep in the mountains, so I could hear the sound of the car well. When I heard my dad's car, my heart would race. I often pretended to be asleep," she reminisced.

She continued, "After my father left, I found peace. I became peaceful from the tension," but also confessed, "Honestly, I felt a lot of guilt. I pretended not to know, but that's not what a child should do. Living while completely ignoring it was hard," she admitted.

However, the reason she decided to reunite with her father was, "When my son Philo started elementary school, he asked, 'Why don't you meet grandpa when he’s around?' I answered, 'Because I'm not very close to grandpa,' but then he said, 'Then you're not a good son,' which really hit me," she said.

Baek also revealed that she had undergone psychological counseling after her parents' jolhon. She said, "The process of finding the root of my hatred toward my father was painful and difficult. It took me 40 years to realize that since it was my parents' issue, I didn't have to suffer," and tearfully added, "I ignored and pretended not to know my dad's problems, but I felt a lot of guilt and my heart was not at ease."

Upon learning of his daughter's wounds, Baek Il-seop said, "She's right, and it's all my fault," adding, "I should have endured it, and it pains me. From now on, if the topic of jolhon comes up, I will say, 'That's all in the past.'"