Koo Kyo-hwan Quietly Married Director Yi Ok-seop in 2022, Past Interviews Resurface

Actor Koo Kyo-hwan and director Yi Ok-seop have been legally married since 2022, his agency confirmed four years later. The late revelation has pulled their past interviews and on-camera comments back into the spotlight, including moments when Koo denied the relationship and Yi spoke on a web variety show without mentioning that she was already married.

Koo's agency, Namoo Actors, said on Oct. 1 that the actor and the director "have long trusted and relied on each other as partners, and registered their marriage in 2022." The agency added that the two did not hold a wedding ceremony and currently have no plans to hold one.

The couple went public with their relationship in 2020. One year earlier, in September 2019, Koo sat for an interview with this publication to promote the film "Maggie," which Yi directed and Koo starred in and co-wrote. At the time, both were working mainly in independent film, and their relationship was already an open secret in the industry.

In that interview, Koo brushed off questions about dating Yi, framing her as a creative partner rather than a romantic one. He described their history as professional. "I appeared as an actor in director Yi Ok-seop's Korean National University of Arts graduation project. Then I ended up editing that work with her," he said.

Asked about Yi herself, Koo said, "You know how there are friends you don't share the same likes with, but you share the same dislikes? When you dislike the same things, you really click." He added that the reason they had been able to keep working together was that they could talk comfortably without walking on eggshells, and said they were close in real life too.

A year later, in 2020, when their relationship became public, Namoo Actors confirmed that the two had been dating since 2013 and acknowledged that they were "a well-known couple within the film industry." In other words, when Koo described Yi as a "close creative colleague" in 2019, the two were already in a long-term relationship.

An industry source at the time said Koo may have denied the relationship because he was worried the focus would shift from his work to his personal life.

Yi's own on-camera remarks are also drawing fresh attention. The director appeared on an episode of the web variety show "You Were a Director EP.2," released in November 2023.

As the conversation turned to couple storylines in her films, talk naturally moved to dating, marriage, and children. Comedian Jang Do-yeon asked Yi how many years she had been dating Koo. "We met exactly 10 years ago," Yi answered, confirming the 2013 start date.

Director Jang Hang-jun also spoke about his own relationship and marriage with screenwriter Kim Eun-hee. "I think the right length for dating is about one full cycle of the seasons," he said. "After that, a lot of fun things can happen once you get married." He then joked that Koo and Yi as a couple "seem like they'd be no fun at all."

When Jang Do-yeon pushed back, half-joking, Jang Hang-jun explained that the two did not seem to have any intention of getting married. Yi shook her head and said, "I don't know, about having a baby." She added, "It's scary when something precious comes into your life."

When Jang Do-yeon brought up the film "We Need to Talk About Kevin," which deals with motherhood, Yi said simply, "Not everyone has maternal instincts."

The episode was filmed before its 2023 release. According to Koo's agency, the pair had registered their marriage in 2022, which means they were already legally married when the show was taped. Because the registration had not been made public, the broadcast still presented them as a couple in a 10-year public relationship.

With the marriage now confirmed, that exchange is being read in a new light. Jang Hang-jun suggested the two had no plans to marry, and Yi offered her thoughts on children without correcting him. After news of the registration broke, some viewers who revisited the clip said they saw the moment differently in hindsight.

Koo and Yi have collaborated on films including "A Dangerous Woman", "After School" , "Fly to the Sky," "Girls On Top," and "Maggie." In 2013 they launched the film production company 2X9HD and now run a YouTube channel of the same name. The "2" stands for Yi and the "9" for Koo. Their collaborations also extend to "Your Country", starring Jang Do-yeon, and "Love Counselor", starring Lee Na-young.

Koo was a star of the independent film scene before breaking into commercial cinema with director Yeon Sang-ho's "Peninsula" in 2020. He has since appeared in the films "Escape from Mogadishu," "Kill Boksoon," "Escape," "Once We Were Us" , and "Colony," along with the series "D.P." and "We Are All Trying Here".