Besides having a successful career in acting, Yoo Ah-in also being known as the most controversial and outspoken actor in South Korea. He drew the public’s attention by updating some controversial statements on his social media like the criticism against the withdrawal of Ahn Cheol-soo from the presidential race, alleged anti-feminism comments, and alleged detestation for the Me Too movement in South Korea, by alluding the movement to a witch-hunt. In 2017, people were shocked by Yoo Ah-in because he had been exempt from his military service due to health issues. This issue spread widely and caused certain speculations among people, especially the malicious comments which stated that Yoo Ah-in is just faking his health condition to avoid military duty. Do you believe it or not? Let’s check out some content about him.
The History of Yoo Ah-in’s Health Issues
The First Injury
Back in 2013, Yoo Ah-in starred in a South Korean action movie titled Tough As The Iron. He was playing the leading role of a street gangster who wants to live a straight life for his sick mother and his love but is forced by a local gang leader to do him a favor. You can easily see from the synopsis that Yoo Ah-in had to do a bunch of action scenes. Unfortunately, he broke his left shoulder while filming this movie, poor Yoo Ah-in! In the next year, Yoo Ah-in once again got the chance to play the leading character in an action movie titled Veteran. In this movie, he had to do a tight hand to hand combat with Hwang Jung-min. While filming this movie, Yoo Ah-in’s hand often shook until he had to bring his personal masseur on set. Every break, he would massage his injured arm. However, the director of Veteran highly praised him because of his hard work even though he suffered from shoulder pain. He said, “… he showed fighting spirit until the very end and finished filming without a stand-in. Even if others say disrespectful and rude things about Yoo Ah-in’s shoulder injury, I, for one, could never do that.”
Military Service’s Medical Evaluation
In December 2015, Yoo Ah-in underwent his first medical evaluation for military service. He was rejected due to his past injuries. Yoo Ah-in then constantly underwent some treatment for his health problem. Yoo Ah-in even postponed some filming projects and CFs to focus on his treatment to fulfill the enlistment requirements. Unfortunately, even after the 5th medical examination, Yoo Ah-in’s condition was still unsuitable for enlisting the military service. Yoo Ah-in’s agency UAA Entertainment said, “Due to health problems from various injuries and illnesses accumulated over a long period of time, Yoo Ah-in was informed that he would be exempt from his mandatory military service. His last medical examination was on May 22nd, 2017, following three years of medical examinations, and the actor was given his exemption status by the Military Manpower Association on June 26th, 2017.” Yoo Ah-in himself expressed his sadness because he really wanted to enlist for military duty.
Malicious Rumors Spreading
Unpredictably, Yoo Ah-in’s reason for being exempt from the military, due to his health issues, had been spread. He was diagnosed with bone tumor. Many people speculated that he was suffering from a very severe illness, which could have led to bone cancer. In order to prevent the malicious rumor about Yoo Ah-in’s health issues, UAA released a clarification statement. They said, “It’s true he has a bone tumor, but it’s benign, not malignant. There won’t be any effect on his everyday life. We just have to watch how it is. We never said he was sick, so we don’t know where that started. His health is fine. It’s not so serious that he’s sick or that he needs to get treatment. We hope there isn’t any misunderstanding through exaggerations. We’re just burdened that family or friends would see and get worried.” They added that the tumor is not related to the previous shoulder injury. UAA entertainment also issued a caution regarding the wrong and malicious rumors about Yoo Ah-in’s health issues. They said they will take legal action if people keep hurting Yoo Ah-in’s character with false statements. Well, just be wise netizens! In December 2017, Yoo Ah-in posted a heartfelt message on his official Instagram account. The message is about a South Korean Army NCO who give his admiration and support to Yoo Ah-in even though he was in exempt. This message might be a wake-up call for the haters who keep saying that Yoo Ah-in is running from his duty while the army gives their sweat and blood to protect the country. Well, we can see that so many people, like the director, even the military officer give Yoo Ah-in full support. Let’s hope Yoo Ah-in’s health problems will be resolved and he will be able to produce some amazing filming project for us. Yoo Ah-in, keep on fighting!
