Broadcaster Jeon Won-ju [YouTube/Newsis]
Broadcaster Jeon Won-ju [YouTube/Newsis]

Broadcaster Jeon Won-ju has opened up about a lifetime of extreme frugality, saying she now regrets not letting herself enjoy the money she earned.

Appearing on a YouTube channel Monday, Jeon treated fellow entertainer Sunwoo Yong-yeo to a meal at a five-star hotel buffet. "I spent my whole life trembling over money and refusing to spend it, but now that I'm getting older, I think I should spend it before I go," she said. "I want to show people this side of me."

Sunwoo gently chided her, saying, "Even while eating right now, all you can think is, 'How can I eat something this expensive?' — and then it doesn't go down. That's no way to live." She added, "It's heartbreaking. No matter how much I try to talk sense into her, nothing changes."

Sunwoo grew emotional as she reflected on her friend's way of life. "After 80 years of living, I've come to see it clearly. It genuinely brings me to tears. Watching how she lives, I feel so sorry for her," she said, her eyes welling up.

Jeon said she has been feeling a growing sense of injustice about the choices she made. "Lately I feel wronged. I think I lived my life too cheaply. I scrambled to earn money, but I never got to enjoy spending it — and now, lying here like this, I feel cheated," she said. "I keep thinking, 'Why did I live like this?' You're right."

She added, "I shouldn't have lived like a fool. Whose song is it? 'I lived such a foolish life' — I think that's me."


husn7@heraldcorp.com