Park In-tae

Park In-tae
Park In-tae in a photoshoot with Esquire Korea in 2021, after his mandatory service in the Korean Navy.
Born	(1992-11-18) November 18, 1992 Incheon, South Korea
Nationality	South Korean
Alma mater	Korea National University of Arts, (BFA) Yonsei University, (M.Mus)
Occupation	Actor • model • singer-songwriter • classical pianist
Years active	?—present
Agent	?
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Partner(s)	Na Ga-eul (2015–2017) Zuhr bint Ghazi Al Shams (2018–2019, 2021–present)
Parents	Park Min-hyeok (father) Ahn Chae-eun (mother)
Personal details
Languages	Korean, English, Japanese, Mandarin
Military service
Allegiance	South Korea
Branch/service	Republic of Korea Navy
Years of service	2019—2021
Rank	Sargeant (Korean: Byeongjang)
Unit	Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla

Park In-tae ([pa̠k̚.in.tʰe̞]; Korean: 박인태; born 18 November 1992) is a South Korean actor, model, singer-songwriter and classical pianist. Park began his career as a relatively unknown child actor,

Early Life and Education

Park was born on Wednesday, 18 November 1992, in Incheon, South Korea, to Park Min-hyeok and Ahn Chae-eun, as the only child of the couple. His father, Park Min-hyeok, was a prominent photojournalist originally from Busan but raised in Seoul since the age of 5, and his mother, Ahn Chae-eun, an aspiring scientist and future philanthropist in her early twenties—the first hanja of his given name, In (仁), was taken from that of his native city's, and means "benevolence." The marriage, however, did not last; his parents divorced when he was 2, and he moved with his mother from mainland Incheon to Ganghwa-gun, where the two lived with his maternal grandparents—his younger half-brother, architect Kim Sung-wook, was born three years later in 1997, during the Asian financial crisis that swept the region. He attended both Samsan Elementary School and Ganghwa Middle School, studying at the former during the family's stay in Samsan-myeon and the latter after they moved to the main island, Ganghwa-do.

When they moved for the third (and final) time back to mainland Incheon, settling in Bupyeong-gu, Park was sent to live with his father while he attended Kyunggi High School, an all-boys school, in the Gangnam District of Seoul until February of 2011, when he graduated. During his senior year, he received one of the highest national scores for his CSATs—as a result, he was accepted into the Korea National University of Arts on scholarship, and graduated in 2015 with dual degrees from the Schools of Drama and Music in Acting and Instrumental Music respectively, choosing to specialize in Piano with the latter; he then attended Yonsei University Graduate School in September of the same year, and graduated with his Master of Music—also specializing in Piano—in 2017.

Career

?—present: Actor

In July of 2021, Park, along with actors Kim Nam-gil, Jo Woo-jin, and Park Sung-woong, were reported to have filmed special appearances for the upcoming film Hunt, featuring Lee Jung-jae as the main lead in his own directorial debut and the younger Park in his first role since leaving the military—all four were urgently tested on the 14th after it was revealed that a crew member tested positive for COVID-19, and filming for the main staff halted for several days. Media remarked that this was the second such scare for Park, his first having come upon his return to the navy base after an emergency leave, although both times he tested negative. Hwang Jung-min, Lee Sung-min, and Yoo Jae-myung were later reported to have also joined filming as special appearances—Hunt was invited to the non-competitive Midnight Screening section at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, and was released theatrically in South Korea on 10 August 2022.

In August of 2021, Park began principal photography for the main role in the upcoming film Gentleman, where he plays the president of a private detective agency who pretends to be a prosecutor after being falsely accused of kidnapping his client. Filming, featuring actors Choi Sung-eun and Park Sung-woong as his co-stars—marking his second collaboration with the latter in the same year—concluded on the 5th of December, with the film expected for release in 2022. Gentleman was officially announced to be slated to release on 28 December 2022, a little over a year after the end of filming.

?—present: Singer-songwriter

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?—present: Classical Pianist

Described as a bright child, Park could often be found playing piano in his grandfather's sitting room—his grandfather, Ahn Sang-hun, was a retired concert pianist, and encouraged him during his daily routine to continue in his pursuits. (Park's favorite piece was, and still remains, Vaughn Williams' The Lark Ascending, a piece that his grandfather played most frequently.)

KBS 1FM?

?—present: Other ventures

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Public Image

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Private Life

Park has been quite open about his struggles with mental health—in an interview with ? just before entering the military, he mentioned that he had been first diagnosed with a panic disorder shortly after graduating from high school, with the second diagnosis coming after one of his most severe panic attacks occurred during his last year of graduate school. He clarified, however, upon being pressed further, that he had been taking medication (along with seeing a therapist), and at the time had not experienced a major episode in almost a year and a half. (Park also suffers from migraines, a symptom suspected by his doctors to be, in part, connected to the previous diagnosis but nonetheless compounded by family history—his mother and grandmother were known to have had the disorder as well.) The actor has a semicolon tattoo on the inside of his left wrist, which he had previously stated was a commemorative tattoo he had done after being talked out of a suicidal episode in his early twenties.

A known animal lover, Park adopted a female cat, Eui, in the summer of 2021, after having donated to the shelter cause for several years. In early spring of 2022, he fostered two more cats, though he was only able to officially adopt one of them—the first and eventual adoptee, Bin, a male, that had been on the euthanasia list, and the second, Seol, female, a stray cat that had lived around the filming set during one of his most recent project. Seol would go on to two other foster homes after Park's, before settling in the home of one of his director friends and his wife. In the summer of the same year—perhaps to replace Seol—Park adopted a Shiba Inu puppy, Beom, from a family that was unable to take care of him. He and his pets currently live in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, near Itaewon, in a property that he was reported to have considered purchasing at pre-sale price in 2017—when the complex switched to a rent-to-own system just before sales began in June of 2018, the actor chose to wait until the following spring to purchase, and moved into the property shortly after his return from military service. The property is, coincidentally, not far from the Madhaa'in embassy, also located in Hannam-dong.

Family and Friends

Park has two siblings—other than his younger half-brother, whose parentage he shares with his mother, he also has a paternal older half-brother, Park Ji-tae, from his father's previous relationship before meeting his mother, born in 1984. The two stayed together briefly during Park's time in their father's residence in Seocho-gu, as the older Park was studying at the Seoul National University School of Law. Their father's half-sister (and therefore their paternal aunt), author Koh Min-hee, is half-Zainichi Korean—her great-grandmother's family immigrated to Japan in the late 1800s, briefly settling in Tsushima Island before moving to Osaka, with their descendants only returning to Korea in the 1950s and 60s.

On his mother's side, Park is a descendant of the Sunheung Ahn clan, part of the yangban class who include composer Ahn Eak-tai among its members. Ahn, however, was born in Pyongyang, while the branch from which Park's ancestors descend settled south of the city in the former Yeonbaek County (now belonging to North Korea and split between Yonan and Paechon counties respectively)—his great-great-grandfather moved across the Han River to Ganghwa-gun a little over two decades before the Division of Korea began in 1945. His maternal cousin, Ahn Sora, is an accomplished artist with her works displayed in several museums both at home and overseas, while her twin brother, Ahn Suho, is a cellist in the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Park's family has had a history of adhering to Buddhism—his father grew up in Busan for several years in a devout household, with both parents praying regularly at the Beomeosa Temple, while Park's maternal grandmother, a native of Gyeongsangbuk-do, worshipped at Jangyuk. His father eventually became irreligious after the family moved to Seoul, however, and his mother was raised Anglican at the wishes of her own father's family. (Park himself is Anglican as well, having attended services at the same cathedral since moving to Seoul—his baptismal name, according to records from the Anglican church in Jung-gu, Incheon, is Isaac.) Despite this, Park's older brother is a practicing Buddhist, having been raised by his mother in the religion shortly after she separated from his father.

Park is close friends with Shinee's Choi Min-ho, having first met him at a project set during the Japanese occupation of Korea—the program was scrapped halfway through filming and never aired due to controversy over bias in regards to its content, but both Park and Choi continued to stay in touch. Choi later introduced him to fellow Shinee member Lee Jin-ki, known professionally as Onew, in 2016 after filming had concluded for the latter's Descendants of the Sun, and the three have often been seen together since. In late September of 2022, Park was spotted in New Zealand with Choi, along with actors Yeo Jin-goo and Ha Jung-woo, the group reportedly in the midst of filming for a travel variety show. The show later aired in January of 2023, under the title Ticketing with Two Feet.

Relationships

From 2015 to mid 2017, Park dated musical actress Na Ga-eul, an alumna of K-Arts who was six years his senior—the two were regarded as one of the industry's power couples and featured in several photoshoots during their time together, but eventually separated (according to their agencies) because of scheduling conflicts. They remained amicable, however, with Na inviting Park to her wedding to a non-celebrity in May of 2022.

Since 2018, Park has been connected with his now-fiance Zuhr bint Ghazi Al Shams, Emirah of Al Madhaa, although for the first half of their relationship they were described as an on and off again couple. He first crossed paths with her at a local restaurant in late February of that year, and the two were further introduced to each other by Park's younger half-brother, who also happened to be a fellow Yonsei student at the time. The couple, though mostly a private pair, created some controversy upon going public, with multiple sources reporting on the fact that Park was a practicing Christian while Zuhr was a devout Muslim. Her decision to continue the relationship until her departure—possibly leaving an opening for any further developments in the event of her return—also invited intense scrutiny; according to some, both the Emirah's mother and the late Emir himself were at first concerned about the status of her relationship, with similarities being drawn between Zuhr's choices and that of her father's, while Park's mother was rumored to have hesitated several times before eventually agreeing to meet her at a family gathering. Still, neither of them attempted to interfere, either physically or otherwise, a move that was seen on the Emirah's side as being in stark contrast to her grandfather's approach some twenty years or so earlier.

It was rumored that Park had become involved with Sun Yun-mi, a Korean-American born in Gwangju and working as principal dancer at the Korea National Ballet, shortly after his return from the military, but as of October 2021 no such relationship had been confirmed. On 18 November 2021 (ironically the same date as Park's birthday), Zuhr returned to South Korea for her first diplomatic—albeit downscaled—dinner at the Blue House acting as Emirah of Al Madhaa, three days before the scheduled event. She was met at the airport by both the Madhaa'in ambassador to Korea, Her Excellency Rayyan Ayad, and Park, notably without Sun. (It was later revealed that he and Sun were mutual friends before his enlistment, and that he had introduced her to his older brother—the two had begun dating in July of 2021 as a result, several months prior to the Emirah's visit.)

Park was then seen escorting the Emirah to the hotel that evening, and during the dinner on 21 November 2021 was also reported to have attended as her guest. Heavy media coverage, therefore, was present outside of the venue, and searches for the relationship status of both parties spiked on Naver after a Dispatch reporter claimed to have overheard the actor refer to the Emirah as "So-hee," her Korean name given to her by a friend during her studies in the country, while speaking to another guest. Both names have to do with "light" or "radiance," and the hanja used (炤曦) were selected, in part, because of the meaning of her Arabic one. The rest of the industry quickly followed suit, and by the next morning newspapers were flooded with headlines, prompting both Park's agency and the Emirah's communications office to put out separate general statements in hopes of dampening public speculation around the couple—the statements notably, however, did not address the exact state of their apparently rekindled romance, instead indirectly leaving it to the two to release their own personal statements through various means.

The Emirah returned to the Emirate on the 30th, and upon her arrival Park seemed to acknowledge—in an interview with Esquire Korea that was nearly leaked to the press before its official publication date—that there was some truth to the rumors, although saying only that he and "[Zuhr, referred to here once again as So-hee] ... get along well with each other". He also touched briefly on his experience on the set of Gentleman, one of his upcoming films, and addressed further rumors of him settling down sometime in the near future, explaining that it was partly the wish of his late mother, who had passed away during his military service. On the 14th of December, almost a week after the interview was published, the Emirah posted a picture on her personal Instagram account that her photographer had taken of the two of them attending the 21 November dinner—the post had no caption, but many took it as a corroboration of Park's account and noted that she had resumed wearing the ring he had given to her during her residence in Seoul, part of a set that the actor was also seen wearing during the same event.

In early July of 2022, Park was spotted going through security at the Incheon International Airport, before being spotted again shortly after in a boarding queue for a Korean Air flight bound for Gu'la. Despite his attempt at a relatively low-key departure, in-air photos taken by other passengers on the same flight soon surfaced on social media, prompting his agency to request that they be taken down for the time being and citing the actor's "desire for privacy" as the reasoning behind it. They did confirm, however, that he had traveled to the Emirate, although they declined to elaborate further. Madhaa'in news agencies later reported that his arrival in the country had been timed just before the start of official state celebrations regarding the Emirah's birthday, and was said to have attended an intimate dinner in her honor along with the rest of the immediate royal family.

After the two issued a joint New Year's statement, in which they shared their blessings for the holiday for the citizens of their respective countries, many suspected an eminent engagement, with theories as to the reasoning behind it, however, varying wildly from source to source. Their suspicions were confirmed when the Emirah's office officially announced their engagement in late February of 2023, almost five years to the day they had first met; her ring, a toi et moi featuring a blue Ceylon sapphire and yellow diamond—both pear and marquise cut respectively—drew comparisons to Empress Josephine's original. (In a dual collaboration interview with Vogue Arabia and Vogue Korea in March of 2023 featuring the couple, Park would later reveal that he had proposed to the Emirah much earlier in their relationship, only six months after their aforementioned first meeting and just before her return to the Emirate—she, however, had turned him down, saying that she was too young and it was too soon for either of them to have gotten to know each other enough for the marriage to take place.)

Park during his military service.

Mandatory Military Service

Upon the Emirah's return to the Emirate in 2019, Park enlisted in the Navy as part of South Korea's mandatory military service program and was assigned to the Jinhae, Changwon base for training; he remained stationed there throughout the remainder of his service. While there, however, Park's mother passed away after a four year struggle with breast cancer, which had then recurred and eventually metastasized to her bones. The event devastated Park, as he was closest to his mother out of both his parents, and he immediately petitioned for emergency leave to attend her funeral. His request was granted, and in early February of 2020 he traveled back to Seoul for the ceremony, only weeks before all South Korean military bases went into lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He returned to Jinhae on 13 February 2020, and was promptly tested for COVID-19; the base shut down eight days later. Despite this, Park was described as an "exemplary soldier" during the pandemic by the Military Manpower Association, ranking among the highest in his unit—the 1st Special Missions Battalion of the Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla—and was discharged from the Navy as a Byeongjang, or leading seaman (though the Korean Navy's equivalent would be that of a sargeant, rather than that of a corporal), in May of 2021.

(Park also has a small eagle tattoo on his right shoulder, which he is said to have gotten in July of 2021 shortly after being discharged—the design, as well as its location, is a popular one among soldiers who served in the Flotilla, although the size of the artwork tends to vary from person to person.)

Philanthropy

Park was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for South Korea in 2020, while still in the military.

On 9 March 2022, Park donated ₩100,000,000 to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association to help residents affected by the wildfires that began in Uljin-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and had spread to the cities of Samcheok, Gangneung, and Donghae—along with Yeongwol-gun—located in neighboring Gangwon-do.

In April of 2022, Park donated ₩80,000,000 to relief workers dealing with orphaned or otherwise unchaperoned children in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was the second such high profile donation to the cause in less than a month, reporters noted, as actress and fellow UNICEF ambassador Lee Young-ae had donated ₩100,000,000 in March, along with a letter of consolation to the Ukrainian people.

On August 11, 2022, Park donated ₩50,000,000 to help those affected by the 2022 South Korean floods through the Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association.

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Controversy

Sexuality

Park's sexual orientation has been a subject of speculation for several years, dating back to his first supporting roles during his college days—in the present day, netizens have pointed to his especially close relationships with fellow actors Seo In-woo and Im Mu-yeol as evidence for non-heterosexuality, with some claiming that he was briefly (and privately) involved with both men after his break-up with former partner Na Ga-eul in 2017. Past interviews were also used as evidence, including a fan video from a nebulously dated press conference where, when asked whether he was in a relationship at the time, Park appeared to have briefly looked towards a male co-star sitting offscreen before responding in the negative. A tangible connection between the two was never fully confirmed, although the co-star (who succeeded in remaining mostly anonymous) was later revealed to be an understudy of one of Na's musical partners.

In 2021, during the same Esquire interview in which (as aforementioned) he seemed to acknowledge his relationship with Zuhr bint Ghazi Al Shams, he had priorly sidestepped a question from the magazine about his ideal type in women in particular, saying instead that he falls in love "with the person. They have to be a good person first, and the rest comes slowly. I'm not too concerned about looks." Overseas fans, including LGBTQ+ activists, commented on the use of gender-neutral pronouns in referring to his romantic relationships—Korean is an inherently genderless language, however, and there are no pure third-person pronouns. (The current literary pronouns for both binary genders are believed to have been imported from Japanese culture, which in turn was most likely imported as a result of Western influence; most native speakers today refer to subjects by name, title, familial relation or explicitly gendered terms paired with a demonstrative pronoun.) Still, the actor had managed to avoid addressing the subject directly, even though his interactions with the same sex were under what was perhaps the highest amount of public scrutiny since his debut.

Park in a photoshoot with Dazed Korea in 2022.

In August of 2022, an anonymous post was made on an online messaging board by someone claiming to be a former classmate of Park in high school, having been, according to them, a part of the same homeroom at the all boys school he attended. It quickly went viral, however, after the author alluded to a relationship between Park and another, younger classmate, threatening to release more details—and hinting at the possibility that the other party was also currently working in the industry—if the actor and his agency did not put out a statement. Park, who, at the time, was returning from visiting the Emirah, and his agency had reportedly considered putting all future scheduled events put on hold until a decision was made, but dismissed the idea. Despite this, he was mobbed at the airport upon his return by journalists and fans alike, with his security detail—which the agency had increased in preparation for such an event after the story first broke—overwhelmed by the amount of people present. A scuffle ensued between another journalist and a bodyguard when the former attempted to take photos as the actor was entering his vehicle and became combative when the latter blocked them, leaving both injured. No representatives from either party were available for comment after the incident, but the agency continued to insist that they would "answer all allegations in a timely manner" and asked the public to refrain from spreading rumors or causing further harm. Park continued with his engagements, including showing up at a photoshoot for an editorial and attending an ambassadorship event for Dior on the 13th.

Several days later, Park posted a handwritten letter on his personal Instagram, noting in the caption that he had decided to speak for himself about the situation because of its sensitive nature—in it, he confirmed that he had, in fact, been in a relationship with his former classmate during their semesters together in high school, and condemned the author of the anonymous post for attempting to force his hand and implicating the career of his first boyfriend, who, he mentioned, had become a thriving theatre actor in his own right, saying in part that "There is nothing wrong with being the person you are," and that people "shouldn't think it's normal to make others have to choose between defending their professional life or explaining why they have been in love with the people that they have." He did not release his classmate's name or those of several of his subsequent male partners, revealing that he had "thought about this for a long time.... I called my classmate and asked him if I could talk about [their past relationship] online because I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable since it had come up so suddenly in the news. I apologized to him because I didn't know if he would be put in a situation that wasn't good for him, but he said it was alright and told me I could go ahead and share. If he had told me that he didn't want to talk about it, I wouldn't have said anything. If he calls me after this and says that it's fine if I say more than what I already have, then I might go ahead and do so if I'm asked. The two of us were together then, and now we've gone our separate ways with no hard feelings between us. Why do we have to say anything else? Because we aren't the high school couple that you would expect?"

Park chose to tackle several rumors head-on in his letter, including some which claimed that Na had left him after finding out about his sexuality—he reiterated the joint statement that the two had put out through their agencies in 2017 as well as his attendance at her wedding in 2022, and said that Na remained "a close friend and coworker in the industry." He also spoke on the attempts of netizens to use the memory of his mother against him: "I've seen comments mentioning my mother, and how if she was alive she would be disappointed that she raised a son that grew up to be like me, but that isn't true. My mother supported me throughout her entire life.... I told her that I liked both [men and women] before I told anyone else, and she sat there and listened to me and then told me that nothing had changed. She wanted me to be happy.... she said that if I was with someone that I loved and couldn't do it here [get married] then I could go overseas to Singapore or the US or somewhere else and do it there, and then come back. I would tell her that when it came to [same sex marriages] Singapore was just like South Korea—they didn't allow it. I remember telling her that just before I left for my military service, and she told me to go ahead and [get married] in Taiwan instead, because then she thought I'd be happier. If I went, I'd get to marry whoever I wanted to, regardless of gender. She didn't care if they were a man or a woman. She was sick, but she still insisted she'd have a big celebration and invite us for dinner once it did happen. I never experienced that kind of hatred or prejudice from her when it came to these things, so I acknowledge that I may have been privileged."

Towards the end of the letter, Park thanked his family and mentioned the Emirah by name, remarking that she had been the one to convince him to go ahead and make his thoughts public after he had at first hesitated to do so—"After I called my classmate and started thinking about what to say, I wasn't sure if I should do it myself or let the agency do it for me, but when I spoke to So-hee she reminded me that there are others out there who have said what I have and had it worse, and people like them are waiting for people like me to speak up, because people like me are more likely to be listened to by the world. We can do something if someone goes ahead and makes a malicious comment about us or implies that we're sick, because that's considered defamation of character, but if they say the same thing to those people and keep it among themselves so it doesn't end up drawing attention, those people can't do anything but take it. And if they can't take it, then they [commit suicide] and leave their families behind. In order to save some of them, I thought it was right to let them know that they are not the only ones, so that they can hold the hand of someone they trust and only walk down the road of flowers from now on." The actor attached an additional photo of a handwritten section of lyrics taken from Epik High's song "True Crime", which read, in part, "Love is where your heart finds it, whatever that placе is / Be it a road covered in lеaves or in seedy flyers / Be it the heavens or earth / And whatever law may be broken, love is love."

Media response was swift, with the industry split between reactions to the statement itself. Several of Park's former and current co-stars, as well as close friends of his, took to various platforms to congratulate him and offer their support, while other stars made vague comments in opposition. His agency announced, shortly after the letter had been posted, that they were working on verifying the identity of the anonymous author with the police and would press charges for defamation. They also threatened legal action against other netizens who had been instrumental in spreading the rumors from the original post, including several who had apparently resurfaced photos taken by anti-gay activists of Park attending the Seoul Queer Festival over several years, despite the event's policy on photographing participants.

Since coming out, Park has been vocal about his stance on LGBTQ+ issues—most recently, he introduced his followers to a relatively little-known artist after posting about Kim Ji-ae and her title track "Love is Love" from her 2022 solo debut album in his Instagram stories. (Ji-ae, a former member of the girl group Wassup [stylized as WA$$UP, came out as bisexual in an Instagram story in 2020, and crowd-funded her debut album after leaving her agency in 2019.)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2022	Hunt	Hyun Soo-jung (Special appearance)	N/A
2022	Gentleman	Ji Hyeon-soo	N/A

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
TBA	Dominant Species	Woo Chae-woon	N/A

Web shows

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2023	Ticketing with Two Feet	Cast member	with Ha Jung-woo, Choi Min-ho, and Yeo Jin-goo

Musical theatre

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