Miss Korea-Turned-TV-Star Found On TikTok After Her Career Was Ruined By A Sex Video Leak
In 1994, Han Sung Joo (also known as Han Sung Ju) was crowned Miss Korea, which launched her career as an MBC actress in 1995 and an SBS announcer in 1996. By 1999, she married Chae Seung Seok, the youngest child of the AEKYUNG Group chaebol family, but the two were divorced just 10 months later.
Even after the divorce, Han Sung Joo left SBS and continued building her broadcasting career as a freelance TV star. But in December 2011, she disappeared from the public eye after having her sex video leaked and becoming embroiled in an assault dispute with her Taiwanese-American ex-boyfriend.
In November 2012, the court ruled in favor of Han Sung Joo by dismissing the assault (and related) claims filed by her ex, Christopher Hsu, but the scandal put her career to a complete halt.
That is, until recently. Han Sung Joo, now 50 years old, has been spotted actively posting on TikTok. A selfie shared to her TikTok account under the name “Esther” has made its rounds online.
Wearing light makeup, Han Sung Joo wore a bright smile.
A wonderful day made happy by smiling!
— Han Sung Joo
The account was created in 2023, and though it remained relatively low-profile, Han Sung Joo has been steadily sharing updates since. A Korea University alumna, the TV star broke her long silence that year by joining the cheering squad at the Korea–Yonsei rivalry game. Since then, she has also posted a photo with former figure skater Kim Yuna, commenting, “With my admirable hoobae, Yuna. She’s always amazing, admirable, and I’m so proud of her.”
In response to one netizen bringing up her past scandal, Han Sung Joo asked that they move on.
Comment: Everyone seeks physical intimacy and emotional love. Yours became public only because you were famous, and it must have been such a painful experience for you. Thank you for enduring and holding on. Let’s keep going strong.
Han Sung Joo: Thanks. But sometimes, support comes in the form of pretending not to notice and just moving on. Haha.
In 2019, it was made known that Han Sung Joo earned her Ph.D. in horticultural therapy from Dankook University’s Graduate School of Public Health. Since then, she has reportedly focused her research on horticultural therapy for dementia patients. Outside what she posts on TikTok about her daily life, including playing sports like golf and cycling, as well as moments with her dog, not much is known about Han Sung Joo.
