Cho Min, a new YouTube sensation?
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In just six days, a certain YouTube video has garnered an impressive 352,000 views and counting.
It may seem like the YouTube debut of a popular TV star.
However, these numbers belong to Cho Min, the daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, whose life took a dramatic turn when her admission to a graduate school of medicine here was revoked after she had already graduated and passed the state medical licensing exam.
Launched on May 12, her YouTube channel, "minchobae," has only one video uploaded to it, but has garnered some 89,000 subscribers.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a video diary that I can look back on later?” says the 31-year-old Cho in the video.
“I want to make videos that will make me happy, even in the smallest ways," she continues.
As of 2 p.m. Thursday, the 39-second clip has a total of 352,290 views and over 14,000 comments, mostly from her supporters. “I’m rooting for you,” “It’s nice to see you being confident with yourself,” “Stay strong and healthy” were some of the comments.
For observers, Cho’s casual and lighthearted attitude, which contrasts with the turmoil she has lived, evokes a sense of curiosity and intrigue.
Some politicians speculate she might harbor political ambitions. Others view her as a new type of celebrity, with the looks of a TV star, intelligence of a medical doctor, and a certain level of public attention, albeit with varying degrees of positive reception.
In 2019, allegations that her parents pulled strings to help her get into the med school sharply divided the nation, prompting massive rallies in support of and against Cho Kuk as the justice minister.
Despite the academic fraud scandal, however, Cho Min graduated from Pusan National University's Graduate School of Medicine and passed the state medical license exam in 2021. However, due to her mother's conviction on charges including forging documents to aid Cho's undergraduate and graduate school admissions, the university nullified her admission last year, a decision she is currently challenging in court.
In February of this year, Cho appeared publicly for the first time since the scandal involving her parents and herself had erupted.
"I've lived proudly and without shame. So I've decided to live proudly and openly as Cho Min, not as the daughter of Cho Kuk, from now on," said Cho in a YouTube interview.
Since then, Cho has been actively communicating with her supporters through Instagram, where she has 137,000 followers.
By Lee Jung-joo(lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com)
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