Comedian Moon Cheon-sik offers lunch, studio tour to man who lost wife, child and mother within months

Comedian Moon Cheon-sik, 49, has drawn wide attention after leaving an encouraging comment for an internet user who lost his wife, a child and his mother in quick succession.

The user, identified only as A, wrote on Threads last May that his wife had passed away in August of last year, his second child in September and his mother in November. "I thought about going too, but I've held on until now because of my adorable firstborn," he wrote.

A said he had changed his outlook after struggling to get through each day. "I decided to tell myself, 'Let's live well,'" he wrote. He added that seeing other families out with both parents used to fill him with despair, but he now focuses on having fun and making happy memories with his child. "My heart felt so much lighter after that. I'm still scared and it's still a lot to carry, but the moment I changed my thinking, I found I could take it one step at a time," he said.

As of Thursday, the post had received 20,000 likes and nearly 1,000 comments.

Many users left words of encouragement for A in the comments.

Among them, Moon's comment stood out.

On Wednesday, Moon wrote on A's post: "Cheering you on with everything I've got! If you come to Seoul with your son, I'll take care of the broadcast station tour and lunch. Hang in there, sir."

A replied: "Hello! Thank you so much for the encouragement. Can we really come visit?"

Moon has shown acts of kindness on previous occasions as well. In 2020, he revealed that he had been donating to an orphanage for several years. He said at the time that he had been receiving many messages from strangers asking to borrow money, and disclosed the donations to explain why he turned them down. "It's a place where about 40 children are cared for — children who were born sicker than my son, children with illnesses that can't be cured, or children abandoned for no reason at all," he said of the facility. "It doesn't get much support. The dining hall where the kids eat was old and needed replacing, the multipurpose truck was worn out and had to be swapped out, a birthday celebration was needed for a newly arrived baby, the septic tank had to be replaced, and the playground floor had to be laid with urethane so the children wouldn't get hurt."

He also uses his social media to promote, free of charge, restaurants that are struggling to stay in business. "Promoting struggling restaurants for free is a hobby of mine," he wrote. "It reminds me of the people who helped me when I was going through a hard time. If you know of a restaurant in a tough spot, leave a comment or send me a DM. Hang in there, everyone."