Super Junior's HeeChul has revealed the background behind joining the new variety show "Love War" while temporarily stepping away from "Knowing Bros".

On the morning of June 23, HeeChul attended the online press conference for JTBC's new variety show "Love War". During the event, he expressed his apologetic feelings about joining a new show while taking a break from JTBC's "Knowing Bros", saying, "It's something I deserve to be criticized for."

HeeChul, who has been an original cast member of "Knowing Bros" since 2015, has been taking a break from the show since last May due to health reasons. Expressing his deep affection for the show, he said, "As everyone knows, 'Knowing Bros' is a very precious program to me." Despite this, he cited a lack of focus caused by a busy overseas schedule as the reason for his decision to take a break. He confessed, "We film 'Knowing Bros' every Thursday, and when I had to travel abroad, the filming had to be adjusted to my schedule. I would come back and shoot two episodes in a row, and at some point, I realized I couldn't focus."

In particular, he shared that advice from his senior colleague, Kang Ho-dong, made him reflect on himself. HeeChul recalled, "Ho-dong hyung always said, 'No matter if we fly for 20 hours or how tired we are, we must never let the guests or the viewers notice it.'" He then confessed his feelings at the time, saying, "But seeing myself unable to focus even while sitting in the very front row, I thought, 'Ah, I need to take a break. I'm not being professional.'"

However, during his hiatus from "Knowing Bros", he joined a new variety show on the same network. HeeChul shared his honest thoughts, saying, "I was already scheduled to do 'Love War' since the beginning of this year," but added, "When I joined 'Love War', I thought, 'What should I do? I'm going to get a ton of hate for this.'"

He continued, "Fortunately, the "Knowing Bros" production team has been very supportive. Also, thankfully, Kim Shin-young [who filled in for me] is doing so well, so I'm very grateful."

Seo Jang-hoon, who was also present, spoke up to clarify HeeChul's situation from an observer's perspective. He cleared up public misunderstandings by adding, "Heechul has had a lot of overseas schedules since last year. The 'Knowing Bros' staff is well aware of this. 'Love War' was a commitment made earlier, at the beginning of this year, so it just happened to turn out this way timing-wise."

Meanwhile, JTBC's new variety show "Love War", which HeeChul has joined, is a makeover dating reality program where couples on the brink of breaking up share realistic concerns about whether to continue their relationship. It stars LEE HYORI, Seo Jang-hoon, and HeeChul.

[Photo=JTBC]

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)