An Young-mi and Baek Jin-gyeong push back on 'birth tourism' criticism over overseas deliveries

Two Korean public figures are pushing back against online criticism over where they chose — or plan — to give birth.

Comedian An Young-mi, a DJ on MBC FM4U's Dusi-ui Date An Young-mi-imnida, registered her marriage to a same-age non-celebrity husband based in the US in February 2020. About two months before her first son's July due date, she flew to the US to be with him. She was away from Korea for nine months. "How could I go through this precious pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare alone?" she said at the time. "I need to be with my beloved husband."

When critics raised concerns about military service for a US-born son, she was direct: "The baby is now 8 months in the womb. It's too early to think about military service issues."

Her second son arrived in June 2026 at a domestic obstetric clinic in Korea—three years after her first. Her agency confirmed the husband flew back to Korea for the birth.

YouTuber Baek Jin-gyeong runs Myeongyeong-gukmin (명예영국인), a channel with roughly 584,000 subscribers and 1.62 million SNS followers. She married British actor Rohan Ned, who works in Ireland, in 2023 and currently lives in London. She announced plans to give birth to a daughter in the UK in December.

"My husband is British and I reside in London," she said, calling the citizenship-grab accusation "really strange and pathetic." She also pushed back on the legal premise: the UK applies jus sanguinis, not jus soli. A child born on UK soil still needs at least one British parent to obtain citizenship (jus soli, she noted, is the US system).