[Sportschosun Lee Ji-hyun] Actor Lee Yi-kyung is speeding up his overseas activities, having confirmed a solo fan event in Japan following a Vietnamese film project. After facing a privacy controversy last year and a tax assessment notice this year, he has seen ups and downs in his domestic career, and is now broadening his reach to overseas stages.
According to the entertainment industry on the 17th, Lee Yi-kyung will hold a solo fan event, "2026 LEE YIKYUNG SHOW," on October 25 at Hitotsubashi Hall in the Japan Education Center in Tokyo.
According to his official Japanese fan club and local performance information, the event is scheduled to open at 3:20 p.m., with the show beginning at 4 p.m. Tickets are also on sale through Ticket PIA in Japan with the same schedule.
"LEE YIKYUNG SHOW" is a fan event format in which Lee Yi-kyung directly presents the content he wants to show. This will be the fourth performance under the title, and a variety of programs, including talk segments and performances, are planned. VIP attendees will also receive benefits such as a high-touch session after the show, a group photo, and original merchandise.
Before that, Lee Yi-kyung expanded his activities to Vietnam as well. He met local audiences through the Korean-Vietnamese co-production film "Mom, Come Home," which opened in Vietnam on July 10. It was his first film appearance in Vietnam. In the film, Lee played Huy Hoang, a young man raised in Korea by his Vietnamese mother.
Recently, a video filmed with Vietnamese singer and actor Hoang Yen Chibi, who appeared in the film with him, also drew attention. The two promoted the movie in a friendly manner, wearing matching T-shirts with the film title and leaning their faces close together. The video also showed Lee Yi-kyung playfully pretending to sniff Hoang Yen Chibi's hair.
This is not Lee Yi-kyung's first connection with Vietnam. In 2023, he held his first fan meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, riding on the local popularity of the film "6/45," and about 2,000 fans attended the event.
Despite his active overseas schedule, Lee Yi-kyung has faced a series of controversies in South Korea since last year.
In October last year, a woman identified as A, who said she lived in Germany, raised privacy allegations by releasing messages she claimed to have exchanged with a person believed to be Lee Yi-kyung. She later apologized, saying the post had been manipulated using AI, but then reversed her position again, claiming that the evidence was real.
Lee Yi-kyung's side dismissed the allegations as false from the beginning and took legal action. His agency filed complaints against the person who wrote and spread the posts on charges including spreading false information and defamation, and Lee Yi-kyung also said he had been questioned as a complainant at Seoul Gangnam Police Station.
In February this year, A said she had submitted the materials and identity-related documents she possessed to the police and was cooperating with the investigation remotely from Germany. However, there has been no official confirmation that the investigative authorities have issued a final conclusion on the matter.
After the controversy, Lee Yi-kyung also left his fixed role on MBC's "Hangout with Yoo." It was initially reported as a voluntary departure due to scheduling conflicts, but another stir followed when Lee said in November last year that the production team had first suggested he leave the show.
The "Hangout with Yoo" production team later acknowledged that, amid the privacy rumors, it had concluded that it would be difficult to continue working together given the nature of the program, and said it had first suggested his departure. The team also apologized to Lee Yi-kyung for the hurt caused during the process.
In May this year, tax issues also surfaced. It was reported that Lee Yi-kyung had received a tax assessment notice after a tax audit by the National Tax Service related to his one-person corporation. In response, his agency Sangyoung ENT explained, "This arose from a difference in interpretation between the tax authorities and our company regarding the standards for expense processing during the operation of the corporation."
It added, "There was absolutely no intentional underreporting of income or evasion through improper means," and said it would respect the National Tax Service's findings and pay the assessed amount in accordance with the relevant procedures.
After enduring a string of setbacks, including the privacy controversy and the tax assessment, Lee Yi-kyung has continued his overseas activities through the Vietnamese film and fan events in Japan. Attention is now focused on whether he will use these overseas engagements as a springboard for a full-scale comeback when he meets Japanese fans again in October.
olzllovely@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
