Director Hong Sang-soo and actor Kim Min-hee, who have been in a extramarital relationship for nine years, are expecting a child, according to local media outlet Dispatch on Friday.

The media report says that Kim became pregnant with Hong’s child, and the couple discovered the pregnancy last summer. Kim is currently in the later stages of pregnancy and is expected to give birth this spring, according to the report.


The couple visited a maternity clinic together on Wednesday. Hong accompanied Kim for her checkups and tests, said the report.

Hong and Kim have been in an extramarital affair for nine years. They first met while working on the 2015 film “Right Now, Wrong Then” and publicly acknowledged their relationship in 2017. Hong was born in 1960, and Kim was born in 1982.

Hong has a daughter with his current wife whom he married in 1985. However, he left his family and has been living with Kim for the past nine years.

The child Kim is carrying will be registered as an out-of-wedlock child in Hong’s family registry. Legally, this means Hong’s current wife could be listed as the child’s mother, but Kim also has the option to register the child solely under her own family records.

Since the couple admitted their relationship, Kim has appeared only in Hong’s films. She starred in 13 of Hong’s films, including “The Day After” (2017), “Hotel by the River” (2019) and “The Woman Who Ran” (2020). In August last year, she won the Best Performance Award at the 77th Locarno International Film Festival for her role in Hong’s “By the Stream” (2024).

Kim made her acting debut in the 1999 KBS drama “School 2” and is known for films like “The Handmaiden” (2016) and “Very Ordinary Couple” (2013). Hong began his directing career with “The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well” in 1996 and is acclaimed for works like “Walk Up” (2020), “The Woman Who Ran” and “Introduction” (2021).


BY YOON SEUNG-JIN [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co.kr]