On Monday, March 16, Kim Heechul talked about his temporary hiatus from Super Junior due to his leg injury on the Korean talk show "7.7 Billion Love" which aired on JTBC.
The show introduced a story about a Korean girlfriend who has a British boyfriend, and the girl can't accept that his special someone might leave her due to a rare disease. Heechul then took the side of the boyfriend and empathized with him through his past experience with the Super Junior members.
"I don't know if these are the right words to describe it, but I see the girlfriend as my Super Junior members," he said.
The male idol then opened up about his car accident that happened in 2016, wherein he luckily survived but has to undergo operations after injuring his leg.
"14 years ago, I met with a car accident that broke my left leg. I couldn't run anymore, but I still participate in stage performances and concerts. I went to the hospital 6 or 7 years ago because the condition of my leg became severe. The doctor said that I might not be able to use my legs, or I may not be able to walk again," he recounted.
After his consultation with his doctor, Heechul revealed that he talked about his condition with his co-members and he vividly remembers how Super Junior cheered him up.
"I talked to the members, and said I couldn't join them anymore as well as the group," Heechul said.
But the Super Junior members' reply to Heechul was, "We had been together for ten years, and what does it matter whether you can dance on stage or not? Let's all go together; we can overcome it."
And as he thanked the members, he realized that he doesn't want to become a nuisance anymore, and he's not going to participate with Super Junior on stage anymore and will keep on working hard on the other side.
Kim Heechul, after attending the funeral of the father of his co-member Donghae, met a traffic accident as the tire of his car malfunctioned. Heechul's leg broke, and seven rods have to be inserted to his left ankle to the hip and to his thigh. He rested for six months before being able to return to their regular performance as a group.
Despite the rods inserted to his leg, Heechul continues to perform and at the same time, receiving treatment for his rehabilitation. Later on, it was decided by the idol to sit out from their onstage performances as well as with their concerts. This is true to their recent comeback, "TIMELESS" and concert, "SUPERSHOW8", wherein the members tried to persuade him to join them but Heechul declined.
As his injury hasn't completely healed, it is risky for him to perform on stage as well as to music shows. Therefore, during Super Junior's comeback, Heechul participated in only minimal activities such as album recording, music video shooting and album pictorial.
