How did Lee Sang-min finally clear years of debt? TV star discloses $1.1 mil. income
Lee Sang-min / Xportsnews
Korean TV personality Lee Sang-min has revealed that he earned 1.5 billion won ($1.1 million) last year, offering a glimpse into how he was able to finally pay off the massive debt that followed him for nearly two decades.
The figure was disclosed in the latest episode of the Wavve survival reality show "Blood Game X," released Friday. Cast members were asked to reveal their previous year's income as part of a challenge to determine their team's starting funds.
Lee, who led Team P1, suggested that everyone disclose their earnings. Fellow contestants said they had earned 50 million won, 80 million won and 200 million won, respectively. When Lee simply answered, "1.5 billion won," the studio fell silent in surprise.
After hearing the numbers, Team P1 decided against taking a financial gamble and instead chose its guaranteed team funds.
"There was no reason to gamble," Lee said. "Since my income was the largest, I suggested we stick with what we had."
Contestant Park Ji-min also expressed surprise, saying, "I don't think anyone else would have written down more than 1.5 billion won."
The revelation quickly drew attention because of Lee's well-known financial history. Once one of Korea's most popular entertainers, he accumulated approximately 6.9 billion won in debt in 2005 after a series of failed business ventures.
Lee later returned to television and spent years repaying what became one of the country's most widely publicized celebrity debt stories.
In 2020, he said he had repaid about 90 percent of the debt, but later revealed that the remaining balance had grown again to around 1.6 billion won due to additional financial obligations.
After roughly 17 years of repayments, Lee announced in 2024 that he had finally cleared all of his debt, prompting congratulations from fellow celebrities and viewers.
His long-running debt saga also attracted skepticism over the years. Some online commenters accused him of being a "fake debtor" or using poverty as a television persona. Lee responded by publicly showing a safe filled with debt-related documents to prove his claims.
His disclosure that he earned 1.5 billion won last year marks the first time he has publicly revealed his annual income since becoming debt-free, drawing renewed attention to the remarkable financial turnaround.
This article from Xportsnews is adapted by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.