K-drama made Park Seo-joon a millionaire – why did the Itaewon Class star spend US$9 million on prime Seoul real estate?
After appearing in Bang Yong Guk’s I Remember music video, the Korean actor made his debut with a minor role in Perfect Game, a 2011 movie about the top baseball pitchers of the 1980s.
He then starred in a string of top-rated K-dramas, making a big impression on viewers with his acting range. His notable series include Kill Me, Heal Me, She Was Pretty, Hwarang: the Poet Warrior Youth, Fight for My Way, and Itaewon Class. For his performance in What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?, critics dubbed him the “Master of Romantic Comedy”.
According to Soompi, Park Seo-joon reportedly earned US$25,000 per episode of She Was Pretty. This was back in 2015, and with the number of big projects he has had since then, it’s safe to say Seo-joon has made a tidy sum from K-dramas.
Seo-joon’s fame extends to social media, where he is the first Korean actor to receive a YouTube Gold Creator Award, commonly known as the Gold Play Button. Last June, he unveiled the button in a live-stream in celebration of surpassing one million subscribers. According to Content Career, the average salary of a YouTuber with one million subscribers is US$57,200 per year.
In terms of spending his wealth, Seo-joon generally maintains a low profile, preferring to give back instead. According to his agency via Soompi, he donated US$83,800 to flood victims in August 2020, and in February, he donated the same amount to the city of Daegu to help fund medical equipment to fight Covid-19.
Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter .
The CF King works with Tommy Hilfiger and Montblanc, made cameos in Record of Youth and Parasite and starred in hit series like What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?, Hwarang: the Poet Warrior Youth and Itaewon Class