Actor Yun Mi-ra has opened up about receiving numerous sponsorship offers during her early career in the entertainment industry.
In a recent video posted to her YouTube channel, Yun visited Noryangjin Fish Market and, over a meal with the production crew, spoke candidly about the culture of sponsor arrangements that once pervaded the industry.
"Back then there were a lot of sponsors. A lot. I received countless offers like that," she said.
Yun explained that the approaches often came through intermediaries who contacted her home. "We didn't have mobile phones back then — just a landline at home," she said. "There were so many women who claimed they could make you a celebrity. When my mother answered, they would say things like, 'There is someone who would like to support your daughter from behind.'"
She added that her mother shut down every such call without hesitation. "My mother would say, 'Is my daughter a gisaeng?' and hang up," Yun recalled, crediting her mother's firm response for protecting her.
She said the offers typically involved promises to cover living expenses, buy her a car or provide financial backing. "That means becoming someone's mistress," she said. "Many people had their lives ruined that way."
Yun also recalled a specific incident from when she was living in Mukjeong-dong in her early twenties. "I came home after filming and there was a black car outside, with men dressed in black standing by it," she said.
"As I walked up, my mother said, 'Hey, get inside quickly,'" she recalled. "Those men knocked on the door, but my mother absolutely refused to open it. They eventually just left."
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