SEOUL – South Korean idol Lee Seung-gi has written a lengthy post on social media in support of his wife, South Korean actress Lee Da-in, in the wake of several rumours surrounding her family before and after their wedding on April 7.

Lee Seung-gi, 36, has enjoyed a scandal-free image since he debuted about 20 years ago and has sometimes been dubbed the “nation’s younger brother”.

However, since he announced in early February that he would be marrying Lee Da-in, 30, he has been receiving criticism due to the alleged negative image of her family.

Her mother is veteran actress Kyeon Mi-ri and her stepfather, businessman Lee Hong-heon.

Lee Seung-gi admitted in the two-parter posted on Instagram on Wednesday night that there were fans who advised him not to marry her and close acquaintances who urged him to break up with her for the sake of his image.

“It was frustrating. My wife didn’t choose her parents. How can I tell her to break up due to her parents?” he wrote.

He also addressed talk about his parents-in-law, by referring to a specific headline: “Embezzling 26 billion won through stock price manipulation and resulting in 300,000 victims?”

He said this was clear misinformation and his parents-in-law have filed a complaint with the Press Arbitration Commission against the five media outlets which ran the news.

The singer-actor said the reporters could not back up their stories and that the media outlets have been directed by the commission to run corrections.

He also attached the corrected article at the end of his post, which said that his father-in-law was not guilty of any crime in relation to the 2016 stock price manipulation case and was a victim of an unfair false charge due to the prejudice of the investigating agency.

Kyeon was also not involved in the 2016 stock price manipulation case.

Lee Seung-gi also clarified that he did not receive sponsorships for his wedding, calling out a reporter who did not call his agency to do the fact-checking.

“I have a new company now. There is also a manager I have been working with for 10 years. Please contact us in future before writing the stories,” he wrote.

He left his long-time agency Hook Entertainment in December 2022 after a payment dispute for digital streams of his songs. He is now with Human Made, the one-man agency he set up in mid-2021.

He also recalled an incident with Hook, in which one of its directors told him that a reporter was probing the affairs of Lee Da-in’s father and that Hook blocked the publication of the story after much efforts.

Lee Seung-gi disclosed that he bumped into that reporter later, who told him that it was Hook which asked the reporter to dig out facts on Lee Da-in’s father.

“That was how Hook tamed me. It can be called ‘Hook-lighting’,” Lee wrote, in reference to the word “gaslighting”.

Meanwhile, the celebrity couple were reportedly spotted in Singapore days after their wedding on April 7, according to social media photos posted by a fan, who saw the newlyweds near Liat Towers and approached them for a picture, though they politely declined.

Lee Seung-gi’s agency told the South Korean media that he was in town for a work trip and not his honeymoon.

He will return to stage a concert at Resorts World Sentosa on June 14, as part of his Asian concert tour, The Dreamers’ Dream – Chapter 2.