Gambling even in the military... 'Surrender to police' Cheol-gu, not his first time [★NEWSing]

*This content was translated by AI.

Internet streamer Cheol-gu (real name Lee Ye-joon) has directly admitted to gambling in the Philippines and announced his intention to surrender to police. Meanwhile, allegations of overseas gambling during his military service and a past confession of gambling addiction are being re-examined.

On the early morning of the 28th, via a live broadcast on the internet streaming platform SOOP, Cheol-gu stated, "I have been gambling in the Philippines since the year before last. I will surrender to the police at 8 a.m. today. It is true that I used illegal loan sharks. I am sorry."

He revealed that he spent over 1 billion won on gambling within a week and engaged in rolling over debts using illegal loans with weekly interest rates of 10%. He added, "I will surrender to the police and accept appropriate punishment. Even if I serve time in prison, I will repay my debts somehow."

This confession has once again drawn attention to past controversies surrounding Cheol-gu's overseas gambling.

In 2019, while serving as a full-time reserve soldier, Cheol-gu was engulfed in allegations of overseas gambling after photos believed to show him playing "baKARA" at a casino in Manila, Philippines, circulated on the onLINE community. The original poster claimed, "This is a casino in Manila. There is BJ Seo Yoon I-rang (with Cheol-gu)."

At the time, the South Korean Army confirmed that Cheol-gu had departed through normal vacation procedures and stated it would launch an investigation immediately upon his return. The Army said, "We have confirmed that it was indeed Cheol-gu. He left through proper vacation procedures. We plan to investigate the matter in question immediately upon his return." It further noted, "Depending on the amount involved during the investigation, it may be classified as profit-making activity and converted into a formal probe."

Additionally, Cheol-gu has previously admitted to suffering from gambling addiction. In a YouTube video released in 2017, he received counseling for gambling addiction treatment arranged by his then-wife, BJ Oe-jil-hye.

When asked how much money he had lost due to gambling at the time, Cheol-gu replied honestly, "1 billion won." Later, during a sleep therapy session, when asked whether he could stop gambling if people around him told him to, he responded, "I should be able to. Gambling makes me feel at my peak."

Meanwhile, Cheol-gu is a former StarCraft professional gamer who began his career as an internet streamer after retiring in 2008. He married BJ Oe-jil-hye in 2016 and had a daughter, but the couple divorced in 2021.

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*This content was translated by AI.