Singer Gu Chang-mo [Newsis]
Singer Gu Chang-mo [Newsis]

Singer Gu Chang-mo has addressed rumors that he made 40 billion won ($29 million) running a car business in Central Asia.

Gu and fellow singer Kim Beom-ryong appeared as guests on MBN's talk show "Sokpuriso Dongchimi" on Saturday, sharing updates on their lives.

During the episode, Gu recounted how fellow singer Bae Cheol-su had reached out to him after he left the music industry and found success in the Central Asian auto trade. "Bae asked me, 'Is it true you made 40 billion won?' and I told him, 'Drop a zero — it wasn't that much,'" Gu said. "Even so, it was far more than I ever made as a singer, and this was the early '90s."

Choi Hong-rim, who was also on the show, expressed surprise, noting that in the early 1990s, an apartment in Apgujeong cost less than 100 million won.

Gu said he earned tens of billions of won from the car business at the time, receiving payment for vehicle sales in cash.

"I kept all the cash under my mattress. At its peak, there was up to $1 million under there," he said, stunning the other guests. At the exchange rate of the time, that amount was equivalent to about 800 million won.

Gu joined the band Songgolmae in 1980 and rose to fame with hits including "Eojjeoda Majuchin Geudae" and "Modu Da Saranghari." He later stepped away from his music career to run the car business in Central Asia.


min3654@heraldcorp.com