Former GLAM Member Dahee Surfaces After Retirement Announcement

Kim Si-won, a former member of the girl group GLAM, who was sentenced to prison for attempting to extort 5 billion KRW from actor Lee Byung-hun, has transitioned to a career as a YouTuber. On January 17, she uploaded a video to her YouTube channel, 'Kim Si-won,' explaining the motivation behind starting her channel with a friend of 20 years.

In the video description, she wrote, "A message from a woman who has faced the storms of life and her friend who sees death every day, aimed at those contemplating challenges."

Kim Si-won shared in the video, "Even when I have things I want to do, I tend to be quite fearful and procrastinate. It’s because the start is scary. But my friend was the one who encouraged me to take that step."

She continued, "My friends believe in and support me no matter what I do. This particular friend is courageous enough to say, 'If you’re doing it, I’m on board.' I wouldn’t have been able to do this alone."

Kim Si-won, known as Dahee during her time with GLAM in 2012, was involved in a scandal in 2014 when she and an acquaintance attempted to extort money from Lee Byung-hun by threatening to release a private video of him. The video reportedly contained inappropriate content. Lee Byung-hun filed a police report, leading to Kim Si-won’s arrest on charges of attempted extortion. Initially sentenced to prison, her sentence was later reduced to one year in prison with a two-year probation after an appeal. This incident ultimately led to the disbandment of GLAM.

After struggling to make ends meet through part-time jobs for a while, she changed her name to Kim Si-won in 2018 and returned to the entertainment scene as an internet broadcaster (BJ). She gained significant popularity, winning the Africa TV BJ Award for two consecutive years and reportedly earning around 2.4 billion KRW last year. In early January of this year, Kim Si-won hinted at her retirement by posting a handwritten letter titled 'Thank You All' on her SOOP (formerly Africa TV) channel's notice board.