사진 확대 Sung Dong-il. Photo courtesy of Star Today DB
Actor Sung Dong-il (58) has drawn attention after revealing that he was once the victim of a multi-hundred-million-won fraud.
On the June 26 broadcast of tvN’s House on Wheels: Hokkaido Edition, Sung Dong-il, Kim Hee-won, and Jang Na-ra were shown arriving in Hokkaido, Japan.
That day, Sung Dong-il prepared a rice bowl topped with generous portions of Hokkaido sea urchin, earning high praise from the cast, who all exclaimed, “This is really delicious.”
Jang Na-ra, especially impressed by the taste, remarked, “You could open a rice bowl restaurant.” Sung Dong-il responded, “I already failed once. I was scammed,” referencing his past experience as a fraud victim.
Kim Hee-won whispered, “On House on Wheels, ‘restaurant’ is a forbidden word,” and Jang Na-ra quickly added, “The sea urchin rice bowl is delicious,” to smooth things over.
사진 확대 House on Wheels: Hokkaido Edition. Photo courtesy of tvN
Previously, Sung Dong-il shared on another program that he once fell victim to a scam by an acquaintance, losing 500 million won and being saddled with debt.
He explained that after overcoming his early, lesser-known days and gaining popularity with the hit drama Eun Shil, he earned a lot of money. He confessed, “When you succeed, people around you don’t leave you alone,” and spoke about his attempt at running a business.
He said, “An acquaintance kept encouraging me, so I opened a 170-pyeong (approx. 562 square meters) galbi restaurant in the countryside. I invested the money, but because I was busy filming, I couldn’t go there myself. I trusted my acquaintance, left everything to him, and even put the business under his name. Later, when I filed a lawsuit, I found out he had three prior convictions for fraud.”
In the end, Sung Dong-il lost about 500 million won he had saved up to that point. He recalled, “The restaurant was doing well, but I never saw any money. That acquaintance sold the restaurant and fled overseas, leaving me with both the 500 million won loss and additional debt,” evoking sympathy.
Sung Dong-il made his debut as a theater actor in 1984 and began his full-fledged acting career in 1991 after being selected as part of the first open recruitment for Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) talents.
He became known for his role as ‘Red Socks’ in the 1998 drama Eun Shil, and has since appeared in a wide range of works, including Rustic Period, Lovers in Paris, The Slave Hunters, and the Reply series, earning the love of the public.
AloJapan.com