HOW K-POP STARS SPEND THEIR WEALTH
BTS member Jimin and female singer-actor IU are known to donate large sums to charity
Business news outlets Forbes and Bloomberg have reported that K-Pop artists BTS, Blackpink and Red Velvet are among the top earners in showbiz worldwide.
On the other hand, a number of South Korean media outfits have mentioned that some of these K- Pop idols are big spenders who buy entire buildings and prime properties.
At the same time, these global superstars are known for their acts of charity. Among BTS members Jimin, Jungkook, RM, Suga and V, it’s Jimin who’s involved in charitable causes.
Jimin, who hails from Korea’s port city of Busan, goes by the nickname “Angel.”
Korean media reported that, in 2017, Jimin was saddened to hear that his alma mater, Hoedong Elementary School in Busan, was going to close down due to lack of enrollees. At the final graduation ceremony, Jimin’s father showed up and gave everyone signed copies of BTS albums.
Jimin also donated cash to pay for the school uniforms of all graduate students going to middle school elsewhere.
In April 2019, Jimin gave $88,000 to the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education to help pay for the lunch and other items of children from low-income families. About US$26,000 from the total sum was said to have been donated by Jimin to another alma mater, Busan High School of Art.
Just last February, he had old desks in the school replaced with new ones for 1,200 students.
Worth $28 million
Meanwhile, there’s a female K-Pop idol and actor, IU (Lee Ji-eun), whose net worth is reportedly $28 million — thanks to her top-rated K-Drama Hotel del Luna and hit singles like “Good Day.”
She’s said to give some of her wealth to charity.
IU, before signing with Loen Entertainment (now Kakao), is said to have lived with her grandmother in a cockroachinfested flat and her parents struggled with debts. She had to be brought to relatives’ homes.
At a young age, she wanted to be a performer even if her relatives mocked her dream.
Korean websites love to recall that her attempts to break into the industry got off to a rocky start — she failed 20 auditions for two years, and was scammed by fake agencies.
But in 2008 she finally had a major launch, and the rest is history.
She has since released chart-topping tracks, performed in sold-out shows and proven her versatility as an actor, starring in highly rated K-Dramas such as The Producers, Persona and Hotel de Luna.
So, how does she spend her hard-won fortune? By giving back a lot.
“Good Day,” the lead single off her third EP released in 2010, sold so well that she was able to pay off her parents’ debts.
IU has a reputation for giving generous gifts to her fellow K-Pop stars, as well as to charity. For Children’s Day, traditionally celebrated in Korea in May, she donated $90,000 to kids from low-income families, or who were raised by their grandparents, via the Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation.
Likewise, in May, she donated $8,150 to children living with single parents in Yangpyeong.
She has also financially supported five students, helping them from 2013 to 2018. The students were accepted to their chosen universities, but could not afford tuition fees. IU funded their education by contributing regular payments of over $17,000.
This year, like other Korean celebrities, IU has also been helping COVID- 19 front-liners. She gave 4,600 cooling vests to nurses, $8,150 to low-income families affected by the virus in Gwacheon, and $16,800 to a welfare facility, also in Yangpyeong.
But she also loves buying property. In 2018, she bought a US$3.9 million building in Gwacheon and a $2.5 million two-story house in Yangpyeong. She acquired an additional lot in the same location for $650,000.
According to her agent, she bought the Yangpyeong house to relax with her family on weekends.
IU is well-known in the Philippines by K-Pop fans. She’s one of the last two K-Pop stars to perform at a sold-out concert at the Araneta Coliseum, on 13 December 2019.
She told her fans: “If your throat starts to hurt, you don’t need to scream so loud.”