Lee Ji-young, "Semi-basement room, free school meals" confesses to poverty in the past

Ilta instructor Lee Ji-young confessed that she was poor when she was young.

MBC's 'Radio Star', which aired on the 29th, featured Kim Soo-mi, Yoon Jeong-soo, Lee Ji-young, and Lee Yong-joo's 'Mountain Battle!' It was featured as a special feature of ‘The Gulluri’.

Lee Ji-young, a Satam Ilta instructor who boasts a cumulative student intake of 3.5 million students, surprised everyone by revealing her ‘real-life version of Choi Chi-yeol’s schedule, which starts at 4:30 a.m. every day. When the MCs asked about her hobbies, Jiyoung Lee said, "I lived with work as my hobby, but then I got sick. Now, to take care of my health, I play soccer with my teaching assistants on days when I don't have classes."

Jiyoung Lee revealed that she paid attention to her idol-level styling in order to become an Ilta instructor. He also said that something dangerous almost happened when he endured a stomachache while lecturing. It turned out that it was peritonitis. Jiyoung Lee said, "I was lecturing, and my stomach hurt a lot. Because of the textbook manuscript deadline, I took painkillers and endured them, but after 30 minutes, I started feeling sick again. I took different types of painkillers, but the pain was so bad that I eventually passed out." Lee Ji-young, who later opened her eyes in the hospital, said, "They said I needed emergency surgery. It turned out that it had been three days since my appendix burst. I didn't even know it was peritonitis, so I was holding it in."

Jiyoung Lee confessed that she studied hard due to difficult family circumstances during her childhood. It is said that they suffered from past flood damage to discrimination due to the color of their lunch boxes. Lee Ji-young confessed, “My father drove a truck all his life, and my mother never even graduated from elementary school,” and “I lived in a rented room in a semi-basement.” Also, due to the semi-basement rented room, "if it got wet, instead of drying it, it had to be thrown away to prevent infectious diseases. I even had to throw away all my written notes. That scene remains a huge shock. I didn't have money to buy school uniforms, so I wore the school uniforms handed down to me by my seniors. “I solved the problem book,” he recalled of that time. Lee Ji-young said, "Free meals were provided to people on public welfare, but only the free lunch box was blue. When I ate it, my friends asked, 'Why are you blue?' even though they all knew."

Lee Ji-young expressed her positive mindset, saying, "It's not my fault that I'm poor. Poverty is not something to be ashamed of. It's uncomfortable, but I didn't think it was something to be ashamed of." He continued, "I always wrote in my diary. I wrote in my diary that I was a person who would do well and that I would live in a penthouse with a view of the Han River, drive a supercar, and open a wine bar. I hope people will look at me and break the perception that only those with a silver spoon are successful and think that they can do well even in difficult environments." He emphasized.

Jiyoung Lee is famous as a lecturer in the field of social inquiry who graduated from the Department of Ethics Education at Seoul National University's College of Education. It is reported that his annual salary exceeds 10 billion won. Lee Ji-young also garnered attention by verifying on YouTube that her bank account balance contained over 13 billion won.

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr