Star CSAT lecturer Lee Do apologized in a handwritten note posted online on November 10, admitting he was “irresponsible” for halting his geography lectures three weeks before the national college entrance exam.
The apology follows days of backlash from students preparing for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) on November 19. On October 29, Lee Do told students he could not finish the remaining lectures in his Korean and world geography curriculum, citing health reasons.
In the note, Lee Do apologized to his students, writing that he had shaken their plans “at the most important time” and, “for the second year in a row,” failed to see the curriculum through. “There is no excuse — this is entirely my fault,” he wrote.
He went further, undercutting the health explanation he gave on October 29. “Above all, I was irresponsible,” he wrote, saying he had long known his health was poor yet kept promising to stay and delayed the decision. “What took that time away was not my health but my judgment.”
Lee Do also addressed the appearances that fueled the backlash: on November 5, days after halting his lectures, he attended the press conference for Netflix’s “The Devil’s Plan: Dead Again,” and on November 7 he opened a personal YouTube channel. “It looked as though I was prioritizing other activities before finishing what I owed you as a lecturer,” he wrote.
Looking ahead, he said he would only promise lectures “when I can take responsibility for them to the end,” and would halt broadcast and personal content activities until his health recovers. Some contracted programs still have remaining air dates, he added, which he would approach “with a careful and responsible attitude.”
Etoos apologized on its website on November 9, saying the agreed lecture schedule “was ultimately not kept due to the instructor’s circumstances.” By November 10, all 17 of Lee Do’s courses were removed from the Etoos website and his introductory videos made private. Sports Chosun raised the possibility of an effective exit, though that has not been officially confirmed.
A Seoul National University graduate, Lee Do teaches social studies at Etoos and rose to fame on Netflix’s dating reality show “Better Late Than Single.” He also appears as a player in “The Devil’s Plan: Dead Again,” premiering November 10. With the CSAT nine days away, the students he left mid-curriculum must now find replacement lectures on their own.
