Actor Jeon Won-ju, 86, stirs controversy over physical contact with 33-year-old fitness trainer

Actor Jeon Won-ju has stirred controversy after openly expressing her interest in a 33-year-old fitness trainer on a YouTube video.

A video titled "Seon Woo Yong-yeo and Jeon Won-ju Go on a Luxury Trip with a Fit Young Man (Eternal Friendship)" was posted Thursday on the YouTube channel "Sunpung Seon Woo Yong-yeo."

In the video, Jeon reflected on the hardships of her acting career, saying, "Seon Woo Yong-yeo always played the lady of the house, and I was always the maid. I sat crouched in the waiting room with no room of my own, and no one ever called me 'Ms. Jeon Won-ju.'"

The production team then introduced a guest, saying, "A handsome man is coming later to wait on you both," before Kim Seung-woo, the head of a personal training studio, made his appearance.

Jeon said she would "want him as a son-in-law" and showed keen interest. When the trainer took off his shirt to reveal his muscular physique, she clutched her chest and exclaimed, "I'm moved," "Look at this — he's amazing," and "I'm trembling just looking at that."

Seon Woo Yong-yeo shot back with a laugh, saying, "Trembling? I feel nothing."

Once the video was released, however, it drew uncomfortable reactions online.

Some users said the interaction felt awkward given that the trainer is young enough to be her grandson, with others noting that "if the genders were reversed, this would have caused a much bigger controversy."

Others came to her defense, arguing that she was simply being affectionate toward someone of a younger generation, that her reactions were typical entertainment-show behavior, and that the trainer himself was smiling throughout the shoot with no sign of coercion.