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On Friday, November 1, Korean news outlet YTN reported that the South Korean Chef Lee Young-sook's appearance fee on Netflix's reality cooking show, Culinary Class Wars, was seized by the court. The famous chef, who previously won the Korean Food Battle 2 series in 2014, appeared on the Netflix show.
The media outlet also reported that the Nonsan Branch of the Daejeon District Court seized the same following an application from an anonymous creditor. This flows in relation to Lee Young-sook's debt controversy that landed on the internet on October 29. A creditor accused the chef of allegedly borrowing 100 million won and not paying it back for about 14 years.
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All you need to know about the Korean Food War 2 winner, Lee Young-sook's debt-related controversy
Korean media outlet YTN stated that the anonymous creditor who accused Lee Young-sook of the alleged debt controversy sat down for an interview with them. The creditor alleged that the chef had borrowed 100 million won, around $77,000 USD, from their father in April 2010.
The chef reportedly hadn't paid back the money, so the creditor and their father filed a loan claim lawsuit in May 2012. However, that also failed to recover the funds from the chef. As per YTN, they gained back a portion of the money, amounting to 42 million won, through an auction related to the chef's debt.
Regardless, the creditor still exclaimed their distress over the unpaid debt. They expressed that the recovered amount, along with an additional 6 million won, had to be used to clear another debt of Lee Young-sook’s due to her reported failure to fulfill her repayment obligations. As per YTN, the creditor said:
"Because Lee Young-sook failed to fulfill another debt obligation for which my father was a joint guarantor, we had to use the recovered amount plus an additional 6 million won ($4,600 USD), totaling about 48 million won ($36,900 USD), to repay Lee Young-sook’s other debt instead.”
The South Korean chef's representative responded as the information regarding the debt-related controversy landed on the internet. They stated that they are in the process of reviewing the debt's details with the attorney, and they also took full responsibility for paying any remaining debt back to the creditor.
“Due to poor communication with the creditor, we weren’t properly aware of the repayment situation. We are currently reviewing the matter through our attorney, and if any debt remains, we will fulfill our responsibility to repay it.”
Lee Young-sook is a 69-year-old South Korean chef. She first appeared in the 2014 series Korean Food Wars, which she won. Following this, she also appeared in the 2018 Korean Food Battle of Gosoo series and was placed third.
Most recently, she appeared as a contestant on Culinary Class Wars, which is available on Netflix.
