'W70b building owner' Seo Jang-hoon says he has never evicted a tenant first

The rental philosophy of broadcaster Seo Jang-hoon, widely known as the owner of a 70 billion won property portfolio, is set to be revealed on television.

According to Star Today, the EBS variety program "Seo Jang-hoon's Millionaire Next Door" airing Wednesday night will feature Lee Gyeong-ae, a medicinal cuisine researcher with 50 years of experience and a three-time recipient of the Presidential Award. She shares her life story of overcoming poverty to become one of South Korea's foremost experts in medicinal cooking.

Lee confesses that she suffered extreme hardship in childhood due to her father's gambling debts. "I dug up ginger from the fields to eat, and cut and sold my hair to buy food," she recalls, opening up about her difficult early years.

She later borrowed money to open a small Chinese restaurant, which drew crowds from the moment it opened thanks to her exceptional cooking. But as business boomed, a competitor bought the building, and she was forced to vacate just six months after opening.

Her husband's earnings from working in Saudi Arabia allowed the couple to open a coffee shop, but history repeated itself. Three years after the business found its footing, the building owner again ordered them to leave.

Hearing her story, Seo expressed sympathy. "I don't understand why building owners do that," he said, adding, "For the record, I have never once asked a tenant to leave first."

After a string of setbacks, Lee drew inspiration from the herbal teas she had drunk as a child to stave off hunger and began developing medicinal cuisine. The restaurant she opened with her husband quickly gained word-of-mouth popularity and drew large crowds. Fearing another eviction, the couple decided to buy land and build their own restaurant.

Those around them warned that building such a large restaurant in the middle of farmland was reckless, but the results proved otherwise. Within a year of opening, the restaurant had become a local landmark, recording peak daily sales of 20 million won.