Former Go player Lee Sedol says on KBS show he still does not know his blood type

Lee Sedol, a former professional Go player, appeared on the KBS 2TV variety programme Oktapbang-ui Munjeadeul (옥탑방의 문제아들) on 20 October and said he still does not know his blood type. Maeil Business said the episode was scheduled for 8:30 pm, and Dong-A Ilbo said the broadcast took place that evening. Lee appeared with the actor Heo Seong-tae (허성태). [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

According to the OSEN report carried by Chosun Ilbo, the presenter Song Eun-yi said Lee had won many tournaments and asked whether his cumulative prize money was about 10 billion won. Lee answered that he did not know himself. When Kim Sook asked why not, he said he could not be counting all of it. Dong-A Ilbo gave the same exchange, with Lee saying he did not know but could not count it all. [ 3 , 4 ]

Yang Se-chan then asked whether Lee did not know his blood type because he was absorbed in Go. Lee replied that he still did not know. Asked whether he skipped general health check-ups, Lee said all worries and anxieties start from a check-up. He said he had only had blood drawn on occasions such as the Asian Games; the text carried by Chosun Ilbo adds in parentheses that this was for doping tests. According to Dong-A Ilbo, Joo Woo-jae asked whether he would need to know his blood type if a transfusion were urgently needed, and Lee said that could be so but he still did not know. [ 3 , 4 ]

Previews published before the broadcast described the episode differently. Newsis, on 19 October, reported that Lee would say being unemployed after leaving the Go world seven years earlier is really hard, and that he would say his cumulative prize money was about 10 billion won and reveal how he spent it. Maeil Business reported the same points on 20 October. The post-broadcast reports do not say how he spent the money or why he finds unemployment hard. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Newsis said Lee was born in 1983, became a professional in 1995 and retired in 2019, and that he had lived 43 years without knowing his blood type. Maeil Business said he turned professional at 12 and won 14 major world titles. It also said he played Google DeepMind's AlphaGo in 2016, losing the five-game match 1-4, and that since retiring he has made board games, appeared on television and worked as a special professor at UNIST. [ 1 , 2 ]