Comedian Ju Byeong Jin has spoken candidly about the emotional wounds he still carries more than two decades after his court battle ended. Appearing on tvN Story’s “Table Tales,” which aired on October 5, he described the toughest period of his life.
Ju was charged with sexual assault in 2000 and went through a prolonged legal fight. In 2003, the Supreme Court acquitted him, dismissing the charges. Even so, he said the trauma never fully faded.
“The wounds in my heart never erase. They remain until I die and keep causing pain,” he said on the show.
He likened his darkest days to dark clouds hanging over his life. “It is a grave sin to ruin someone else’s life out of selfishness,” he said. “Those whose lives have been destroyed have to live so many long years in darkness.”
Ju also recalled a dawn visit to the Han River during his hardest times. Walking alone on Hannam Bridge, he came across a man who appeared to be attempting a desperate act. He held the man back, talked with him for a long time, and handed him over to the police — later describing it as “we saved each other.” Admitting he was in deep darkness himself, he advised the man to hold on to hope.
Despite achieving major success with his underwear business, which reportedly earned ₩160 billion KRW (about $119 million USD) annually, Ju said he felt an indescribable emptiness afterward, realizing that money cannot be everything in life.
