Ji Yeon-su opens up about working at gomtang restaurant: 'It's not my place — I'm just trying to make a living'

Broadcaster Ji Yeon-su has shared an update on her life, revealing she is raising her son alone while working as a staff member at a gomtang (beef bone soup) restaurant.

A video titled "Serving 150 Bowls at a Gomtang Restaurant" was posted Monday on her YouTube channel "Yeonsurobda."

A fellow employee said Ji complains that her arms hurt from carrying 100 to 150 bowls a day, while another said she is doing an excellent job.

During filming, Ji took orders, delivered food and attended to customers without a break. "I serve more than 150 bowls a day," she said.

She pushed back against speculation that her appearance was a promotional stunt for the restaurant, saying she has no ownership stake and is simply an employee with no involvement in its management.

She also opened up about having been fired from a job in the past after her background as a broadcaster came to light. "Because I have to work to make a living, I never tell anyone upfront that I used to be on television, wherever I go," she said.

"If you stay trapped in those glamorous days of the past, you can't grow," she added. "You have to live in the present."

Above all, she said her son is the biggest reason she keeps working.

Ji packs up the gomtang provided as a staff benefit to bring home as breakfast for her son Min-su. "I work here because I want to feed Min-su as much premium Korean beef gomtang as he wants," she said.

Ji, a former model, married Eli, a member of the K-pop group U-KISS, in 2014, and the couple had a son together. She has been raising him on her own since their divorce in 2020.