Actor Lee Dong-gun. (Herald POP)
Actor Lee Dong-gun. (Herald POP)

A Jeju cafe that actor Lee Dong-gun opened with a 200 million won ($149,000) loan has shut down after about a year in business, and footage showing its outdoor pond left unmanaged has raised hygiene and environmental concerns.

A video titled "Lee Dong-gun failed and left too. Don't even dream of a rough life in Jeju" was recently posted on the YouTube channel Ganghoui Balbadak TV.

The video, filmed along Jeju's Aewol cafe street, showed changes in the area alongside Lee's former cafe, Oasis80.

The YouTuber explained that Aewol was once a quiet village but has since become a tourist hub as a cafe street and other businesses sprang up, leading to frequent traffic congestion.

The YouTuber then visited Oasis80, once known as a popular cafe in Aewol run by Lee.

"At first, it was so popular that people lined up before the cafe even opened," the YouTuber said. The cafe's interior, featuring red brick and palm trees, stood out.

After the cafe stopped operating, however, its interior facilities appeared to have been left unmanaged, in effect abandoned.

In what the filmmaker identified as the cafe's outdoor space, water that had turned green filled the pond. Fallen leaves and various debris floated on the surface. Dust and dried grass had piled up on the steps around the pond, suggesting it had gone unmanaged for a long time. Jars and sculptures once placed there for an exotic atmosphere remained untouched.

The filmmaker raised concerns that the stagnant water could attract insects and produce foul odors, potentially harming nearby merchants and residents.

Oasis80 was the realization of a cafe Lee had long dreamed of. Through SBS's "My Little Old Boy," he showed everything from consulting with a bank for a roughly 200 million won loan to transforming an old house in Aewol, Jeju, into the cafe.

The cafe, which opened in April last year, drew attention from its opening day, with lines forming after word spread that Lee personally brewed the coffee. Beyond its pink exterior and exotic interior featuring palm trees and a pond, the cafe's signature menu item was Turkish-style sand coffee, brewed using hot sand. Broadcaster Lee Sang-min also appeared as a one-day staff member.

Starting in June this year, however, the cafe repeatedly went on temporary hiatus, citing interior construction, and in July it announced on its official social media account that it was "taking time to reorganize." Word later spread that a different fashion brand store had moved into the building where the cafe once stood, fueling speculation that Lee had, in effect, wound down his business in Jeju.

Meanwhile, Lee currently serves as host of the JTBC entertainment program "Divorce Recovery Camp."


min3654@heraldcorp.com