While we wait for more news from Park, here we look at how other K-pop stars (and Korean celebrities in general) managed after leaving show business.

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1. Former Dia member Eunjin became a live-streamer

Dia is a popular K-pop girl band including renowned members Chaeyeon and Yebin, who also took part in survival shows Produce 101 and The Unit respectively, becoming members of the resulting bands I.O.I and Uni. T.

In 2018, three years after Dia’s debut, the main dancer and lead rapper Ahn Eun-jin, often styled simply as Eunjin, announced her departure from the group. She cited health issues and difficulties in following Dia’s schedule as her reasons.

After two years of retirement, she returned to our screens as a live-streamer – or broadcast jockey, as they are known in Korea – often shortened to BJ. Appearing on the platform TVAfrica, the main content she offered was Q&As with her fans. But then in January 2021, following many malicious comments on social media, she quit being a BJ and the only platform she’s using now is YouTube.

2. Singer Lee Ji-yeon became a chef

After releasing hit song Wind, Please Stop Blowing, Lee Ji-yeon then decided to immigrate to the US after her retirement as a singer. She met her husband Cody Taylor at the Korean restaurant where she first worked, and together they now run the restaurant Heirloom Market BBQ in Sandy Spring, Atlanta. Lee has since been chosen as one of the top 100 chefs in Atlanta by CulinaryLocal.

In 2018, she even appeared on CNN during an inter-Korean summit to show how to cook Pyongyang cold noodles, highlighting the symbolism of sharing food during the important political event.

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3. Ballad singer Lee So-eun became a lawyer in New York

If you’re a fan of Korean ballads, you might have heard of popular artists such as Lee Seung-hwan, Yoon Sang, Kim Dong-ryul – and Lee So-eun, a singer scouted by Yoon Sang, who worked with producer Lee Seung-hwan and duetted with Kim Dong-ryul.

She was in high school when she made her debut in 1998, but moved to the US in 2009 to study law after graduating from Korea University. Later, she attended Northwestern University Law School in Chicago and started work as a lawyer in 2012, at which point she retired as a singer.

4. Ahn Mi-jeong from K-pop band O-24 became an English tutor

The first all-girl hip hop group of K-pop’s first generation, O-24 debuted in 1998 and was among the top three girl bands at the time, along with Fin. K. L and S.E.S. As a member of O-24, Ahn Mi-jeong definitely had her fans, but she chose to leave the K-pop industry, first becoming a reporter and anchor at the broadcaster SBS’ Suwon bureau.

Several years later, she took a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course with Korea’s top institution, Sungkyunkwan University, and Georgetown University – a stepping stone towards becoming an English-language educator. Later on, she started to teach English at a centre that helps people to prepare for the exam to enter the police force.

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5. Oh Byung-Jin from the boy band 5tion became a CEO

Oh Byung-jin also found fame after retiring from K-pop boy band 5tion. The group had a hit song, More Than Words, in 2014 but Oh retired following the company’s internal issues, according to News 1. While he admitted he was worried about how he would survive after retirement, luckily he went on to have a lucrative career after K-pop.

According to SBS’ Access Showbiz Tonight, Oh became CEO of a business selling kitchen utensils, going on to earn an annual income of up to US$83 million. Perhaps not surprisingly, he said he is highly satisfied with his current career.