The late film director Shin Seong-hoon, who died in May, has been classified as homeless and given a public funeral, a fact that only emerged later. Shin, who grew up in an orphanage and was adopted at a surprisingly late age of 32, reportedly had a family but filed for disownment in 2022. He was found dead at his home in late May.

Shin debuted in 2003 with the boy group MAX but never achieved significant fame. He rose to prominence in 2022 with the short film Jajangmyeon, Thank You. He co-directed that film with Park Young-hye, the mother of actor Lee Tae-seong, and it won both Best Director and Best Picture at the 7th Hollywood BlueBird Film Festival, drawing attention to their work. However, they later parted ways over disputes about revenue sharing and halted their activities.

In August that year, on a variety show, he spoke about how his adoptive mother had a gambling addiction and amassed debts, while expressing gratitude for the family he had. He also said that he personally paid back his mother’s debts totaling 160 million won and noted that disownment would have meant he would not be legally obliged to pay those debts. Despite his claim that he tried to settle the debts for his mother, he said the debts never seemed to end, leaving him exhausted.