Doctor group criticizes Korean medicine practitioner's fever advice as dangerous misinformation

A physicians' advocacy group has criticized Kim Hyeong-bae, a Korean medicine practitioner known as the boyfriend of influencer Ayolyi (real name Kim Min-young), for spreading inaccurate medical information online.

The Physicians for a Fair Society issued a statement Tuesday saying Kim had responded to questions about fever on his SNS account by suggesting that adults could wait until their temperature reached 39.4 degrees Celsius and children until 38.5 degrees before seeking care. The group called the advice "medically incorrect guidance that could harm public health."

"A high fever of 39.4 degrees Celsius requires prompt diagnosis with serious illness in mind," the group said. "The causes of fever range from simple upper respiratory infections to pneumonia, encephalitis and sepsis, and delayed diagnosis significantly raises the risk of severe complications or death."

The group also questioned the source of the temperature thresholds Kim cited. "The real problem is not the temperature itself but the time wasted before identifying the underlying cause," it said, adding that it could find no medical guideline recommending patients wait until 39.4 degrees before seeking evaluation.

The group noted that AI searches return results suggesting antipyretics and physical cooling measures be used from 39.5 degrees — a threshold drawn from a single research paper that set it as an experimental condition, not a clinical standard.

"Even in that study, every patient had cultures pending and was already receiving antibiotics — not a single patient was left untreated until 39.5 degrees," the group said. "The threshold used for patients undergoing full fever workups and 24-hour intensive care was being applied to people at home. Any physician who graduated from a legitimate medical school would find that number alarming."

The group added that a fever of 38 degrees or higher persisting in an adult warrants evaluation of its cause, typically through blood tests and chest X-rays. "Any physician who has actually treated patients would find it difficult to say it is safe to wait until 39.4 degrees," it said.

The group demanded that Kim delete the advice and issue a public apology.

The group also raised concerns about Kim's SNS account name. It said his account is listed as "gungang_doctor" and his profile describes him as a "Korean medicine doctor" — a reversal of the government's official English designation, "Doctor of Korean Medicine," that makes him appear to be a medical doctor. "The only term visible to most users is 'doctor' in the account name, which could easily lead the public to mistake him for a licensed physician," the group said.

"This incident arose because a Korean medicine practitioner without medical education conveyed inaccurate information in an area requiring medical judgment," the group said. "In an environment where information is easily accessible through AI, the education and experience needed to judge whether research findings can be applied to actual patients becomes all the more critical."

The group urged the Ministry of Health and Welfare to change the official English name for Korean medicine to "Traditional Korean Medicine," and called on the National Assembly and the government to establish a system preventing Korean medicine practitioners from using names or designations that could cause them to be mistaken for medical doctors.

Meanwhile, Ayolyi was born in September 1991 and is currently 34 years old. She began her career as a model in 2008 and runs a YouTube channel under the name Ayolyi with about 770,000 subscribers. She married a businessman in 2018 and divorced in 2022. She recently went public with her relationship with Kim.