Koyote's Kim Jong-min Is Expecting a Son, One Year After Quitting Alcohol to Prepare

Koyote member Kim Jong-min, a fixture on Korean variety television, announced on the 7th that his wife is 17 weeks pregnant and that the couple is expecting a son. He broke the news himself during a recording of KBS 2TV's long-running parenting reality show Superman Returns, a fitting venue for someone who has said on multiple programs over the years that becoming a father was the one thing he wanted most.

The broader context is worth noting: Kim Jong-min has been open for some time about his wish for children, mentioning it on 1 Night 2 Days and My Ugly Duckling as well as Superman Returns. That candor gave the announcement a sense of arrival rather than surprise.

How the pregnancy came to light

Kim Jong-min told the Superman Returns cast and crew that he and his wife first learned of the pregnancy in June, while on a trip to Beijing. From that detail he drew the baby's prenatal nickname: Jjing-i, a soft adaptation of "Beijing." The nickname, a common practice in Korean families before an official name is chosen, stuck through what he described as an emotional moment abroad.

He also shared two vivid dreams he interpreted as taeong (태몽), the traditional conception or pregnancy dream believed in Korean culture to carry meaning about the child. One involved nursing a calf; the other, a spotted deer running through the family home. During the broadcast, he showed an ultrasound image of the baby for the first time publicly.

A year without alcohol

Kim Jong-min said he stopped drinking entirely about a year before the pregnancy, managing his health in a deliberate effort to conceive. "I quit alcohol for a year and took care of my health," he said, adding that he believed the preparation helped the pregnancy happen relatively quickly. His agency, JG Star, confirmed the news the day prior, noting that the full details, including the baby's sex, would be revealed on the broadcast.

Kim Jong-min, now 47, married a businesswoman eleven years his junior in April of last year. The couple have kept her identity largely private. With Superman Returns built around fathers and their young children, his ongoing role as MC now takes on a different dimension, one the show's production team acknowledged directly, saying they look forward to watching him step into the experience he has spent years observing from the sideline.