Actor Choi Cheol-ho, Known for Actress-Assault Controversy, Works Parcel Loading and Car-Wash Jobs: "Because of One Lie"

On the 10th, MBN's program "Teukjong Sesang" shared an update on Choi Cheol-ho, the 56-year-old actor who was once highly popular. After leaving the entertainment industry amid controversy over assaulting a junior actress, Choi is now making a living as a night-shift day laborer loading and unloading parcels at a logistics center.

The broadcast showed Choi unloading freight as parcels poured out of containers, sorting the volume of deliveries that arrived through the facility. Looking back on his first days at the job, he said, "When I first came here, my hands were so swollen that I thought I could not do the work. But after a few days, I got used to it." He explained that the physical labor has now become familiar to his body.

Choi said that after acting jobs became scarce, he started a business to support himself, but a series of setbacks, including COVID-19, left him with heavy debt. His circumstances worsened to the point that he had to give up the home where he had been living and send his wife and children to stay with his in-laws.

He said, "I was in no position to be picky about work," explaining that he began working at the logistics center after a junior theater actor introduced him to the job. Choi is currently living with a roommate in a one-room unit of just over five pyeong. The room does not even have a microwave, so he warms instant rice in hot water before eating it.

Parcel loading and unloading is not his only work. To fulfill his responsibility as the head of his family, Choi is also doing a part-time car-washing job. He said that most of the money he earns is sent to his family for their living expenses.

Choi also addressed the 2010 incident that changed the course of his life, when he assaulted a junior woman colleague after drinking. He confessed, "When I got a call from a reporter, I lied without hesitating for even 0.1 seconds. It was the most foolish thing I have ever done in my life."

He continued, "I learned that every wrongdoing inevitably comes with a price," and the program showed him visiting a chapel to pray.

Choi gained popularity through appearances in dramas including "Rustic Period," "Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-sin" and "Dae Jo-yeong." However, after the assault controversy in 2010, he halted his entertainment activities.