Ko Ji Yong takes legal action over son's photos; Seung Jae deletes SNS

Seung Jae, the son of SECHSKIES member Ko Ji Yong and family medicine specialist Heo Yang Im, appears to have deleted the SNS account he recently opened. Coincidentally, as the parents enter a legal dispute over the disclosure of their son's photos and videos and visitation rights, attention is turning to the cessation of Seung Jae's SNS activities. The family, who once received public love through television broadcasts, belatedly revealed their divorce, and now the conflict over the child's portrait and privacy seems to be escalating to the courtroom.

Last month, Seung Jae opened a personal SNS account and communicated with fans by posting short videos of his daily life. Since he had appeared on broadcasts with his parents since childhood, the opening of the account itself drew significant interest. In particular, it caught attention because the account only followed his mother, Heo Yang Im. However, the account can no longer be found, suggesting that his SNS activities have been halted.

The timing of the account deletion is noteworthy because Ko Ji Yong and Heo Yang Im are clashing over the issue of posting their son's photos and videos. Ko Ji Yong's side has recently taken legal action against Heo Yang Im, demanding an injunction against the obstruction of visitation rights and requesting that she stop posting the son's photos and videos on SNS and other platforms. The dispute has expanded from issues of child rearing and contact to the act of disclosing the child's image online.

Ko Ji Yong's side released a firm stance through his agency. The position is that despite warnings regarding the refusal to show the child and the potential violation of child protection laws, these requests were not accepted, and it became difficult to tolerate the situation where the child was being used for hospital promotion. It should be noted that this is the claim of Ko Ji Yong's side and must be distinguished from a final legal judgment or a definitive determination of the illegality of the related actions.

Heo Yang Im has been disclosing her daily life with her son through SNS and YouTube. While this may be a record of the growing process from a parent's perspective, the issue of a child's face and daily life remaining online as they grow can lead to separate privacy concerns. In particular, the disclosure of photos and videos of a minor child is an area that is difficult to judge simply based on the parents' right to post; the child's intent, protection of personal information and portrait rights, and the permanence of online records must all be considered.

The background of this conflict also includes the couple's divorce and child-rearing issues. Ko Ji Yong and Heo Yang Im married in 2013 and had their son, Seung Jae, the following year. The three became a familiar family to viewers when they appeared together on KBS 2TV's "The Return of Superman" in 2017. The affectionate relationship between father and son shown on the broadcast at that time received great love, and Seung Jae also garnered much interest through his daily life with his father, Ko Ji Yong.

However, several years after their family life was revealed through broadcasts, the situation has changed significantly. The two belatedly announced in July that they had ended their marriage, and it was reported that the divorce occurred approximately two years ago. A considerable amount of time had passed before the public learned of the divorce. Subsequently, as the conflict surrounding child support and visitation rights for their son became known, the significant gap between the image of the happy family in past broadcasts and the current reality was highlighted.

In particular, the core of this matter is how the rights and interests of the child are protected, independent of the conflict between the parents. In the divorce process, visitation is an important institutional mechanism that allows the non-custodial parent and the child to maintain a relationship, and it is an area where the welfare of the child must be prioritized. The disclosure of a child's photos and videos should also be viewed not merely as an act of individual expression by the parents, but from the perspective of protecting the privacy and personal information of a minor.

It is difficult to conclude from the currently available information whether the deletion of Seung Jae's SNS account is directly related to the legal dispute between the parents. However, as the parents have taken legal action regarding the issue of public disclosure, interest is growing because Seung Jae's personal SNS has disappeared at the same time. Above all, since Seung Jae, who has been exposed to the public since childhood, has reached a point where he must now regulate his own privacy and online presence, this incident cannot be viewed merely as an SNS issue of a celebrity family.

In the past, it was often accepted that parents disclosing their children's photos was a natural way to share family life. However, in the SNS era, once photos and videos are released, they can be replicated and distributed for long periods, and the possibility that a growing child may not want them must be considered. The conflict between Ko Ji Yong and Heo Yang Im ultimately touches upon the question of how much a parent can disclose about a child's life.

The family of Seung Jae, remembered by the public for the affectionate bond between father and son on screen, is now facing real-world conflicts involving divorce, visitation rights, child support, and SNS postings. While the exact reason for Seung Jae's SNS deletion has not been confirmed, attention is focused on how the parents' dispute is impacting the child's online space as legal proceedings continue.