[Sportschosun Reporter Cho Min-jung] Kim Joo-ha once again set the record straight about the ‘urgent-poop’ rumor that had followed her for years. The famous scene of her delivering the news while breaking into a cold sweat during a live broadcast was not caused by an urgent need to use the restroom, but by acute indigestion. She also revealed that although she had asked for the related search term to be removed, the request produced an unexpected backlash.
The December 26 episode of Maeil Broadcasting Network (MBN)’s ‘Kim Joo-ha’s Day & Night’ featured Kim Ki-tae, Hwang Karam, Lee Ji-hoon and O Chuba Jeremy.
Lee Ji-hoon, who was born in 2007, said he knew Kim Joo-ha and mentioned a scene he had seen in a short-form video. It showed Kim Joo-ha continuing to deliver the news while profusely sweating. He said he learned the attitude of a professional from watching her continue without making a mistake despite the difficult circumstances.
Grateful for the younger colleague’s praise, Kim Joo-ha immediately addressed the matter. It concerned the ‘urgent-poop’ rumor that had followed her for a long time because of the video.
Kim Joo-ha emphasized that, contrary to the rumors that the incident had been caused by a bathroom emergency, she had actually suffered from acute indigestion. She also revealed that the cause was an expired cup of instant noodles.
The problem was that, as the video spread online, the absurd image of ‘Kim Joo-ha = urgent poop’ became firmly established. Eventually, when people searched for Kim Joo-ha’s name on portal sites, ‘urgent poop’ appeared as a related search term. Kim Joo-ha ultimately contacted the portal site herself and asked for the term to be removed, explaining that it was actually deleted.
But that was not the end of it. Kim Joo-ha said a friend later contacted her with an absurd message. Although ‘urgent poop’ had disappeared from searches for her name, Kim Joo-ha appeared when people searched for ‘urgent poop.’ Her efforts to clear up the misunderstanding had taken an unexpected turn. When Lee Ji-hoon said he had not even known about the misunderstanding, Kim Joo-ha reacted as if she regretted bringing it up, eliciting laughter.
The scene in question aired on MBN’s ‘News 8’ on June 19, 2019. Kim Joo-ha suddenly began breaking into a cold sweat and appeared to be struggling during the broadcast, but continued delivering the news for some time. She ultimately had to leave before completing the broadcast, and anchor Han Sung-won took over the remaining news segments.
At the time, MBN explained that Kim Joo-ha had complained of abdominal pain caused by acute indigestion and that there was no serious health problem. Nevertheless, as the video of her delivering the news while sweating resurfaced online, the absurd ‘urgent-poop’ rumor continued to follow her for years.
Kim Joo-ha eventually personally had the related search term next to her name removed, but through this broadcast she once again stressed, "It was acute indigestion."
Cho Min-jung mj.cho@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
