Actor Jeon Won-ju hints at pay dispute with former crew, set to relaunch YouTube channel

Actor Jeon Won-ju, 86, is set to resume her YouTube activities with a new production crew.

According to industry sources Monday, Jeon is preparing to release new content on her YouTube channel "Jeon Won-ju — Jeon Won-ju-in-gong," targeting a launch just before winter.

The new content will be produced by a different crew from the one that previously ran the channel.

Launched in September last year, "Jeon Won-ju — Jeon Won-ju-in-gong" currently has around 110,000 subscribers. The channel has offered glimpses into Jeon's daily life and personal investment strategies.

The previous production crew announced their sudden departure on Aug. 24, sparking widespread speculation about the reasons behind it. Some suggested Jeon may have been dealing with health issues, but her agency dismissed those claims, saying the contract had ended "for reasons unrelated to her health" and that "the channel is not going away — it will restart around fall after a reorganization."

On Friday, Jeon appeared on fellow actor Samija's YouTube channel and addressed the split herself. Rubbing her fingers together in the shape of a coin, she said the previous crew had quit after she asked for a raise in her appearance fee. "I said let's raise this a little," she said, "and they said they'd quit, so I told them to just go ahead. I realized I shouldn't be too hung up on money." The remarks strongly suggested a pay dispute had been behind the parting.

Jeon has drawn attention in the past for a level of frugality that some found extreme — episodes such as pocketing garlic from a barbecue restaurant or ordering just one coffee for three people at a cafe became talking points.

Some have speculated that a difficult childhood left her with deeply ingrained saving habits, but Jeon in fact inherited considerable wealth from her mother, a businesswoman. The family originally ran a prosperous ginseng farm in Gaeseong but fled south during the Korean War. The upheaval left the family struggling for a time during Jeon's early years, though her mother rebuilt the family's fortunes by trading silk at Dongdaemun Market. The recovery was substantial enough that in 1958 — an era when it was far from easy for women to attend middle or high school — her mother sent Jeon to Sookmyung Women's University. Jeon has said that shortly before her mother's death, she was left a house, commercial properties and luxury watches.

Jeon is also regarded as a savvy investor in entertainment circles, having accumulated tens of billions of won through savings, share investments and real estate.