Lee Dong-gun closes Jeju cafe as Jo Yoon-hee visits island with daughter

As actor Lee Dong-gun's cafe in Jeju has ceased operations after approximately 1 year and 3 months, with a different brand moving into the existing location, attention is once again being drawn to the fact that his ex-wife, Jo Yoon-hee, has traveled to Jeju with their daughter, Kim Minkyeung.

Because the timing coincides so perfectly, various speculations regarding the two surrounding Jeju have emerged online, but no evidence has been confirmed to suggest that the actual movements of both parties are related.

The cafe in Aewol-eup, Jeju, which Lee Dong-gun operated, opened its doors last April. It once garnered significant interest, with lines forming from the very first day of opening, and it also drew attention as a 'challenge in self-employment' rather than a mere distraction from acting, as his appearances making coffee and serving customers were revealed through SBS variety shows.

In particular, this cafe featured 'sand coffee'—a method of slowly extracting coffee over hot sand—as its signature menu item. Two months after opening, it even showcased a pop-up store in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, testing the possibility of brand expansion beyond a simple personal cafe.

However, cracks appeared in the operation this year. Since mid-June, the cafe entered two temporary closures due to interior construction, and although a resumption of business was initially announced, normal operations were delayed. Ultimately, on July 6, they announced the cessation of business through official SNS, stating, "As of July 9, we will be taking time to reorganize." No specific reopening date was provided.

At the time, the expression used was 'reorganizing' rather than 'closing down.' However, as time passed, the situation flowed into a form that is effectively a closure. With news spreading in September that a new fashion brand store has moved into the location where the existing cafe was situated, the possibility of Lee Dong-gun's cafe continuing operations in its original form at that space has significantly diminished.

In this process, Jo Yoon-hee's Jeju trip has been resurfaced as a curious scene. On July 31, Jo Yoon-hee posted photos on her SNS of her spending time in the Jeju sea with her daughter, Kim Minkyeung, along with a short caption reading 'Jeju.' The mother and daughter enjoyed playing in the water in swimwear and later shared photos continuing their trip against a backdrop of palm trees.

In particular, the grown-up appearance of Kim Minkyeung in the photos caught people's eyes. As the daughter, who appeared on broadcasts with her father Lee Dong-gun during her childhood, has now grown significantly and is seen enjoying a trip side-by-side with her mother, netizens showed interest in the changed family landscape following the couple's divorce.

Online, reactions emerged regarding the overlapping timing of these two events, with some saying, "The timing is exquisite." Some even speculated that Jo Yoon-hee might have visited Jeju knowing the situation of Lee Dong-gun's cafe, but this is merely the interpretation of netizens; there is no evidence that Jo Yoon-hee visited Jeju with awareness of the cafe's suspension.

Rather, looking only at the revealed circumstances, it is natural to view Jo Yoon-hee's trip to Jeju as a summer vacation with her daughter. In the travel photos, Jo Yoon-hee did not mention any specific location or Lee Dong-gun's cafe, and the shared content focused on the mother and daughter's seaside outing and daily travel.

The reason their relationship is not entirely free from public interest is that their marriage and divorce processes were relatively widely known. Lee Dong-gun and Jo Yoon-hee married in 2017, had a daughter that same year, and reached a mutual agreement to divorce in 2020. Since then, Jo Yoon-hee has been raising the daughter, and Lee Dong-gun also maintains his relationship with her.

In particular, even after the divorce, the two have continued their relationship as parents through their common denominator, their daughter. Therefore, whenever their movements are revealed, the past relationship as an 'ex-couple' is interpreted as overlapping with their current daily lives, which aligns with the unique perspective the public holds when looking at celebrity families.

For Lee Dong-gun, the Jeju cafe was not a mere side business. It was a space where he tested his new possibilities by diving directly into the business field during his hiatus from acting, experiencing everything from menu development to store management. While continuing his hiatus from acting following the 2023 Netflix series 'Celebrity,' he has been sharing his recent status through variety shows, and this year, his broadcasting focus has shifted as he joined as a new MC for JTBC's 'Divorce Camp.'

Furthermore, as recent reports suggest Lee Dong-gun is preparing for new business ventures in Seoul, it is difficult to conclude that the closure of the Jeju cafe signifies a complete abandonment of his business interests. While the operations in Jeju have concluded, the possibility remains that he may pursue his cafe business in a different form elsewhere.

Ultimately, the story surrounding Jeju stems from the coincidental timing of a former husband's business closing and a former wife visiting the island. However, the confirmed facts are simply that Lee Dong-gun's business in Jeju has entered a new phase and that Jo Yoon-hee spent a typical summer vacation with her daughter.

A celebrity's daily life is easily reconstructed into a narrative the moment it is made public. For famous divorced couples, even separate activities can easily be linked into a single story. While the "exquisite timing" in this case offers an interesting observation, it is more accurate to focus on the two individuals continuing their separate lives in their respective places rather than assigning deeper meaning to the coincidence.