DINO of disbanded K-pop boy group HALO shared how little he made while he was active as the group member.
On October 21, DINO and his girlfriend Lee Sang-mi revealed their 10-year love story.
While doing so, DINO mentioned the time when he went to the military a couple of years back.
DINO said, "Just because I was on television, a lot of people at my military base thought that I was rich. When they would ask me about my finance, I would tell them that I didn't have any money."
He resumed, "But they would take it as, 'Oh, he's just being modest.' Nobody would believe me. Most soldiers were younger than I was, but some of them had saved up so much money whereas I had none. I felt embarrassed about that."
He went on, "As a soldier serving the national mandatory duty, I would get paid on a regular basis. My monthly salary was 330,000 won (approximately 280 dollars). I couldn't be happier about that. For the first time in my life, I opened a savings account."
Then, DINO unveiled the exact amount of money he made as a member of HALO.
DINO said, "I got paid once, and it was 580,000 won (approximately 500 dollars). I bought you a pair of sneakers from that well-known sports brand with that, remember Sang-mi?"
He continued, "About 90 percent of K-pop group members don't make any money. As we start with a heavy debt to our agency since they invest lots of money in producing K-pop groups, we have to pay that off first before we start to get paid."
He bitterly added, "We have to keep releasing albums to get even near becoming successful. But our debt increases when we release them. It's pretty much a vicious cycle. It's also very hard to succeed from a small agency, so..."
The 6-member group HALO made debut in June 2014, then disbanded in April 2019 at the end of the contract with their agency.
(Credit= '이봉조봉커플' YouTube, 'OfficialHALO' Facebook)