Blindsided by love: South Korean Olympian’s fiancé revealed to be transgender con-artist

A tale of new love swiftly turned sour for South Korean fencing legend Nam Hyun-hee, after her husband-to-be was revealed to be a woman who is being investigated over multiple allegations of fraud.

Nam, a two-time Olympic medallist and a divorcee with one child, earlier this week announced her engagement to a 27-year-old “US-born IT tycoon”, but the fiancé was immediately unveiled by their acquaintances online as a transgender scammer named Chun Cheong-jo.

Nam, 42, consequently left a luxury flat in Seoul where she had been living with Chun for months amid a flood of news reports unveiling Chun’s past as a former convict who kept changing appearances to appear as a woman or a man in order to swindle spouses-to-be out of money.

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South Korean media reported that police identified Chun as a woman in her 20s, and they are investigating her for claims of extortion and fraud. Chun was on Thursday detained on accusations of stalking Nam at her mother’s home, but was later released on grounds that Chun was not a flight risk.

A local lifestyle magazine, Woman Chosun, which first broke the news of the couple’s coming nuptials early this week, reported that Nam decided to end the relationship after learning that Chun was using her name to swindle investors. Several victims had come to Nam’s residence, telling her they gave Chun money because they trusted the Olympian.

Fraud victims told journalists that Chun posed as an illegitimate son of South Korea’s Paradise Group hotel and casino conglomerate, claiming she was also a main shareholder in the US tech giant NVIDIA Corp. Paradise on Thursday officially denied any relation with Chun.

Chun presented victims with forged bank documents that appeared to show she had assets worth 51 trillion won (US$37.8 billion) in her accounts.

A South Korean social media user said he had been paid to pose as a journalist and conduct a false press interview with Chun in January this year, when she was together with Nam at a restaurant.

Questions about Chun’s hidden “astronomical” property assets were designed to help Chun impress Nam.

“Is it true that you are actually the largest private assets holder in this country?” asked the fake journalist, who took on the role-playing job for some pocket money.

Chun angrily replied: “I don’t give any press interviews.”

“I received a script from Chun’s assistants, and at the time, I didn’t even know who Nam Hyun-hee and Chun Cheong-jo were. So I just went out and played the role as a reporter without thinking about it. I was paid 120,000 won (US$89),” the casual worker said.

“I quickly forgot about it, and after a while, I came across the news about the marriage of Chun and Nam, and I decided to come clean,” he said, revealing the mobile text messages he exchanged with Chun’s aides and the script he received.

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Nam told Woman Chosun that she knew Chun was a transgender man but said Chun had “gaslit” her, trying to make her believe she was pregnant from their relationship by supplying her tampered pregnancy tests. She said Chun had two ID cards, one registered as a man and another as a woman.

Chun posed as a love interest to dupe victims of their money with no intention of paying it back. In 2020, she was sentenced to 27 months in jail on seven fraud charges for swindling at least 300 million won (US$221,000) out of 10 victims.

Nam won silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was also a team bronze medallist at the 2012 Games in London.