Cha Eun-woo Baptized as Catholic During Military Service

Actor and singer Cha Eun-woo has been baptized as a Catholic while serving in the South Korean military, taking the baptismal name John the Apostle.

His agency, Fantagio, confirmed to K-POPIT on July 1 that "Cha Eun-woo received a Catholic baptism in June."

According to a media report the same day, Cha attended a religious ceremony held on his military base last month and became a Catholic. His baptismal name is John the Apostle. The news has drawn wide interest because Cha has never publicly discussed his religion.

Cha enlisted in the army as an active-duty soldier in July of last year. He is currently serving as a corporal in the fanfare unit of the Ministry of National Defense military band. He is scheduled to be discharged in January of next year.

Earlier this year, Cha was caught up in a tax evasion controversy involving roughly 20 billion won. In January, the National Tax Service treated the one-person agency set up by his mother as a paper company and launched an intensive investigation. Cha paid about 13 billion won in back taxes as a result.

"I sincerely apologize to my fans and to many others for the disappointment and confusion caused by the tax controversy," Cha said in a statement at the time. "If there were areas I did not look after carefully enough, the responsibility for that lies entirely with me."