Actress Lee Su-kyung Opens Up About the Child She Almost Had — and the Law That Stood in the Way

Actress Lee Su-kyung, known to current audiences as the fierce mother of three in KBS2's drama 심우면 연리리 (Simwoong Yeonriri), plays a woman surrounded by family. In real life, the 45-year-old revealed on March 26 that she had genuinely tried to build that reality for herself — and that Korean law made it impossible.

Appearing on KBS 2TV's long-running variety show '옥탑방의 문제아들' (The Problem Children of the Rooftop) alongside her co-star Park Sung-woong, Lee Su-kyung spoke openly about the decisions she made in her forties regarding parenthood, adoption, and the legal framework that ultimately closed those doors.

"If I could give a lot of love," she said, "giving it to a child wouldn't be bad. But since it's legally not possible here, I gave up on that idea."

When the Path to Motherhood Ran Into a Legal Wall

In Korea, adoption by single individuals — regardless of financial stability, age, or intent — faces significant legal restrictions. Unmarried people are not permitted to adopt under the current framework, meaning that Lee Su-kyung's wish to provide a home for a child was not something she could act on without first getting married. She acknowledged this barrier plainly.

She also spoke about egg freezing, another path she had researched. There, too, she encountered a limitation: in Korea, egg freezing is generally restricted to women facing medical conditions that threaten fertility, not for elective personal use without marriage. "I had thoughts about egg freezing," she said, "but I learned that in South Korea, it's not possible before marriage." She added with some resignation: "Egg freezing requires healthy eggs in your early 30s. There aren't many left now."

The candor with which she delivered these facts — not with bitterness, but with a kind of calm accounting of what had happened — was striking. Lee Su-kyung was not looking for sympathy. She was simply telling the truth about a chapter in her life that many women quietly navigate but rarely discuss on national television.

"I Thought I Would Be Married by 40"

The variety show setting — usually aimed at laughs and light conversation — opened into something more personal when the topic of marriage came up. Lee Su-kyung acknowledged that her life had not followed the timeline she once imagined.

"I thought I would be married by 40," she said simply.

She is now 45 and unmarried, with her last relationship ending roughly two to three years ago. On the show, she mentioned that she had once completely forgotten about an ex-boyfriend, only recognizing him later when she encountered him at a venue — a detail that landed as comedy, but also said something about how far her life had moved on.

Her co-guest Park Sung-woong, who has been married since 2014 and is known for his happy family life, offered a gentle counterpoint through his own story. He revealed on the same episode that he sought psychiatric help after an intense villainous role left him with disturbing intrusive thoughts — a confession that met Lee Su-kyung's own vulnerability with a different kind of honesty. The episode became an unusually open conversation about the things people quietly carry.

The Irony of Playing a 'Super Mom'

The timing of Lee Su-kyung's appearance on '옥탑방의 문제아들' adds a layer of irony that she addressed directly. In 심우면 연리리, she plays Cho Mi-ryeo, an assertive, energetic mother of three adult sons. It is the kind of role that requires convincing an audience that family is the defining structure of a character's life.

Off-screen, Lee Su-kyung built a different kind of life — one centered on her craft, her social circle, her wine investments, and her own independence. There is no judgment in that. But the gap between her on-screen role and her real circumstances gave her own admissions an extra weight.

She is, in some ways, the reverse of the character she plays: a woman who has the love to give but did not arrive at the circumstances her character takes for granted. What makes her discussion of adoption and legal barriers resonate is precisely that contrast — the gap between what she imagined and what the law allowed.

A Broader Conversation About Single Women and Family in Korea

Lee Su-kyung's remarks come against the backdrop of a growing national conversation in Korea about birth rates, women's choices, and the legal infrastructure around family formation. Her comments drew comparisons — explicitly, from the show itself — to broadcaster Sayuri, who made international headlines in 2020 when she chose to have a child through IVF using donor sperm while in Japan. That option is not available to women in Korea under current law.

Sayuri's path, and the reaction it generated, opened a discussion that has not fully closed. Lee Su-kyung's admissions add another voice to it: a woman who explored the available options, found them foreclosed, and accepted that reality. Her acceptance is not resignation in a defeated sense. It reads more like the calm that comes after a genuine decision — the recognition that she did look for another way, and when it was not there, she kept moving forward.

The headlines following her '옥탑방의 문제아들' appearance have mostly focused on the adoption element, but the fuller picture is richer than any single quote. Lee Su-kyung came on a variety show and, in the space of a conversation, gave a thoughtful account of how she got to 45, unmarried, having tried some things that didn't work out, and still entirely herself.

The Rest of Her Life, Going Fine

It would be incomplete to discuss Lee Su-kyung's '옥탑방의 문제아들' appearance only through the adoption angle. She is, by multiple accounts, doing rather well.

Her wine collection — begun as a passion project and developed over years — has turned into a genuinely impressive investment. She keeps between 120 and 150 bottles at home in a dedicated wine room. A single bottle she bought for six million won is now worth approximately 100 million won. Co-guest Park Sung-woong, after hearing the numbers, estimated her total collection at "over 100 million won." She made no effort to downplay it.

She also mentioned two failed business ventures in the food and beverage space — a Japanese-style izakaya and a brunch café — with the same lightness she brought to the rest of her confessions. They didn't work out. She tried. She moved on.

Lee Su-kyung has been performing on Korean screens for more than two decades, and the version of herself she presented on '옥탑방의 문제아들' in March 2026 is someone who has learned to hold complexity without needing to resolve it. She wanted to be a mother. The law said no. She is still here, doing the work, playing mothers, making wine investments, and telling the truth about all of it.

For audiences who have followed her career — and for the younger women who may be sitting with similar questions of their own — there is something genuinely valuable in that honesty. The path she wanted was not available. The path she has taken is full.