Choi Soo-young's First Public Event After Jung Kyung-ho Split: A Charity Marathon

Choi Soo-young's First Public Event After Jung Kyung-ho Split: A Charity Marathon

Choi Soo-young will attend a Seoul charity marathon for the visually impaired on Dec. 13, her first public event since splitting with actor Jung Kyung-ho.

Singer and actress Choi Soo-young will make her first public appearance since ending her 14-year relationship with actor Jung Kyung-ho. The event is a charity marathon supporting people with visual impairments.

Choi will attend the 12th Harmony Marathon with the Visually Impaired on Dec. 13 at Peace Plaza in Sangam World Cup Park in Seoul. She plans to run the course alongside other participants.

The marathon marks her first scheduled public event since news of her breakup with Jung. Choi has long served as an ambassador for the Korea Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness, where she has supported people living with visual impairments and inherited retinal diseases.

Her interest in the cause is personal. Her father has retinitis pigmentosa, a rare eye condition that gradually damages the retina. In 2023, she donated 300 million won, about $215,000, to fund research into a treatment for the disease. This year's marathon brings together runners with and without visual impairments, and all proceeds will go toward welfare programs.

Her agency, Saram Entertainment, confirmed the breakup to Korean outlet TenAsia on Dec. 9. "The two have parted ways," the agency said. "They have decided to remain good colleagues." The couple had been one of the longest-running public relationships in the Korean entertainment industry, and the news drew a wave of reactions from fans who had followed them since 2014.

Choi's return to public view through a charity event, rather than a promotional appearance, lines up with the cause she has championed for years. For an artist whose private life has been the subject of headlines this week, the choice keeps the focus on the work she has built outside her career on screen and stage.