Yeo Esther, whose company generates 300 billion won a year, says after backlash over Hong Hye-geol’s ‘Assassins’ remarks: “I should stop making money...”

[Financial News] Yeo Esther, a doctor and entrepreneur, said she had announced she would stop providing financial support, saying her husband Hong Hye-geol’s political remarks had hurt even her company.

A video titled ‘Yeo Esther and Hong Hye-geol Face a Separation Crisis (Written Pledge, Resignation Announcement, Allowance Cut)’ was uploaded to the YouTube channel ‘Yeo Esther’s Esther TV’ on the 9th.
In the video, Yeo Esther said Hong Hye-geol’s Facebook post had caused her trouble. “I had a feeling the day before. He hadn’t gotten into trouble in a long time,” she said, recalling how she had cautioned him: “‘Please be really careful on Facebook, Hye-geol. If you cause trouble again, I’ll just die.’”
On the 27th of last month, Hong Hye-geol wrote on Facebook, “The film ‘Assassins’ makes me uncomfortable,” and asked, “Is it right to insult a deceased person whom half the population respects or acknowledges with a baseless conspiracy theory, while surviving family members are still alive?”
He added, “It’s easy if you put yourself in the other side’s shoes. Scripts that would never be allowed by one’s own camp are praised as fiction in the service of art when they come from the opposing camp. Hypocrisy.”
Hong Hye-geol also commented on the post, adding, “In a 2025 Gallup poll, 62% of the population said President Park Chung-hee had done many things well,” and, “Yuk Young-soo has been named the first lady Koreans like most in almost every poll over the years.”
Yeo Esther recalled, “I left early that morning, and (Hong Hye-geol) kept messaging me on KakaoTalk, saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ I didn’t know until then. A little while later, the internet went wild.”
She continued, “When he came home, he would go to his room and tell the housekeeper, ‘Please take good care of my wife.’ He just kept saying he was sorry and never said, ‘I won’t do it again.’”
Yeo Esther said she eventually told him, “So I finally took a hard line. I said I wouldn’t support Biondwi (his YouTube channel),” informing him that she would cut off the financial support. Hong Hye-geol retorted, “Come on. Threatening someone with money like that is so low and petty.”
Yeo Esther said Hong Hye-geol’s remarks had affected the company’s work, saying, “Our company’s online spaces were flooded with abusive comments. The staff couldn’t do any other work; they deleted them all.”
It was later reported that Hong Hye-geol signed a written pledge and promised to delete his Facebook account forever, but then changed his position to say he would only refrain from commenting on social and political issues. Yeo Esther said, “He told me, ‘So many people seek me out that I won’t talk about social or political issues; I’ll only talk about medicine and culture.’”

Even so, she expressed feeling sorry for her husband. “I wondered whether someone who writes so well should have to spend the rest of his life unable to write what he wants just because I run a company,” she said, adding, “So I was going to tell him I’d stop making money.”
Hong Hye-geol reacted with surprise, saying, “That’s a strange conclusion. You’re going to sell the company?” Yeo Esther explained, “Isn’t the reason I get angry and stop you from using Facebook, Hye-geol, because of the company?”
Yeo Esther currently runs a health supplement company reportedly generating 300 billion won in annual revenue.
Hong Hye-geol is reportedly receiving 180 million won a month from Yeo Esther to operate his YouTube channel. Appearing on a variety show recently, he said of the medical YouTube channel he runs, ‘Biondwi,’ “It’s not about making money; it’s about doing good for the public.”
Yeo Esther also complained, “The support started at 80 million won, and he raises it every year. He calls the accounting team and asks them to increase it without even asking me. How much effort would it take us to earn 180 million won?”
[email protected] An Gaeul Reporter