How Lee Byung-hun’s marriage almost ended over a $3.7 million blackmail extortion scandal

Lee Byung-hun and Lee Min-jung are among the most beloved couples in Korean entertainment—admired not just for their star power, but for weathering some of their most turbulent moments together.

In 2006, Lee Min-jung, who was still trying to make it big in the industry, was introduced to Lee Byung-hun. He had already established himself, and had several hits under his belt.

They clicked.

Min-jung was 25. The relationship lasted a year. “He had to leave for an overseas shoot,” she later said. “I was just starting out. He asked if I was ready for marriage. I wasn’t. So we let each other go.”

For three years, they stayed apart. Until one phone call changed everything.

It was 2009, and Lee Byung-hun was filming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra overseas. Out of the blue, he called Min-jung. “He said he wanted to see me once he was back in Korea,” she recalled on JTBC’s Gamsung Camping. He kept his promise. They met. They talked. They picked up right where they had left off — but this time, it stuck.

In 2012, they went public with their relationship.

By August 2013,Lee Byung-hun and Lee Min-jung were married. Fellow actors Jang Dong-gun, So Ji-sub, and Ko So-young were among the guests, who attended the wedding. Actor Lee Bum-soo and entertainer Shin Dong-yup even performed.

After the wedding: A dreamy honeymoon in the Maldives. But behind the glitz, Min-jung confessed later that marriage wasn’t an easy yes. “I kept postponing it,” she admitted in an interview. “I wanted to act just a bit more. But he said — decide, and I’ll wait.” So she did. And she never looked back. “If I hadn’t married him then, I don’t think I ever would have,” she said.

However, trouble erupted in 2014, a year after their wedding. Lee Byung-hun found himself at the centre of a blackmail scandal involving model Lee Ji-yeon and K-pop idol Kim Da-hee. After an exchange, the two women attempted to extort him for nearly 5 billion won, using secretly recorded footage. The case exploded in the press.

At the time, Min-jung was pregnant with their first child. She left their home and stayed with her parents. Byung-hun publicly apologised, acknowledging his mistakes. He also pleaded for leniency in court,  not for himself, but for the women who had tried to ruin him.

Min-jung forgave him. He visited her family home, apologised in person, and asked for another chance.

On 31 March 2015, the couple welcomed their first child, a son. “Both the mother and baby are healthy,” their agencies confirmed. “The couple will do their best to build a happy family with a sense of responsibility.”

In December 2023, they had a baby girl. It has been a long, difficult journey, but they made it.