The speculation began during a radio broadcast of a baseball game on KNN, where the commentators mentioned Hwang Jae-gyun’s alleged divorce.
Commentator Lee Gwang-gil asked the caster, “Did you know that Hwang Jae-gyun got divorced?” When the caster expressed surprise, saying “What? Hwang Jae-gyun?“, Lee Gwang-gil responded, “Let’s talk about it later.“
When the caster asked “Is there an article about it?“, Lee Gwang-gil replied, “I heard it from the director. There’s a reason he was struggling during the game. What can you do when there’s trouble at home?” Lee Gwang-gil added, “It can’t be helped. Peace at home brings prosperity.”
Following this, the divorce rumors between Jiyeon and Hwang Jae-gyun spread rapidly online. The couple got married in December 2022 and has been sharing their happy moments publicly.
Adding to the speculation, Jiyeon recently posted on her YouTube community, “Due to personal reasons, I will not be able to upload videos for a while. I ask for your understanding and will return with a bright appearance.” This statement lent weight to the divorce rumors.
Initially, this post was thought to be related to malicious comments directed at Hwang Jae-gyun. However, as divorce rumors emerged, netizens began to speculate whether the couple was actually getting divorced.
On June 5th, during a game between Hanwha Eagles and kt wiz, Hanwha’s Park Sang-won performed an exaggerated strikeout celebration, provoking the kt team, which was trailing by 10 runs. Although Hanwha veterans and coaches, including Ryu Hyun-jin, expressed their apologies, Hwang Jae-gyun showed his displeasure by calling out Park Sang-won after the game, saying, “Hey, come here.”
This led to a confrontation, with kt’s Jang Sung-woo also expressing anger, and players from both teams quickly became entangled. The situation was finally resolved after a conversation between Hanwha’s manager Kim Kyung-moon and kt’s manager Lee Kang-chul.
Hwang Jae-gyun’s action also affected Jiyeon.
Netizens flooded Jiyeon’s social media account with negative comments like “Why is your husband’s personality like that?“, “Take care of your husband. Is he a baseball player or a thug?” and “Let’s improve your husband’s personality first. It’s natural for a player to celebrate his performance.“
On June 25th, Jiyeon’s former agency representative told Xports News, “After checking with Jiyeon regarding the divorce rumors, they are not true.“