SOURCE: '신세계 家' 애니, "있는 애들이 더해"…미국 유학생 모임 과거 소환
Song Jaho, CEO of Pica Project, shared stories from Annie’s high school days.
Last month, a video titled 'Gathering of South Korea's 3rd-Gen Chaebols (Real Review)' was posted to Song Jaho's Youtube channel.
During a tea time, he mentioned Annie from the group ALLDAY PROJECT. As the granddaughter of Shinsegae Chairwoman Lee Myunghee and also the eldest daughter of Chung Yookyung, Annie drew attention since her debut.
In the video, Song Jaho shared, "I went to high school in the U.S. International students often know each other even if they don't go to the same school. I had a close group of friends back then, and Annie was in it. We would hang out and have meals together."
Song Jaho said there was no talk of Annie preparing to be an idol at that time. He said, "Of course we knew what kind of family she came from. She's the daughter of the Shinsegae family. All the friends friends knew about it through rumors."
Song Jaho continued, "Of course, she lived better than I did. But how well-off can most international students really be? Children of mid-sized company owners like me are usually the one who spend the most money." He added, "I was the one who paid for meals back then. The real 3rd-Gen Chaebol kids don't have much money when they are students."
Song Jaho then shared a story about how modest Annie was during her school days, saying, "I remember the new AirPods came out while we were having a meal. Even though we were high school students and it cost only about 200,000 KRW, she was thinking hard whether to buy it or not. She jokingly said to me, 'Oppa, can't you buy them for me?' and I thought to myself, 'The truly wealthy kids are even more frugal when it comes to money.'"
Meanwhile, Song Jaho is the eldest grandson of Song Seungheon, the former chairman of Dongwon Construction. He is an art curator and businessman who publicly dated Kara’s Park Gyuri for about two years from 2019 to 2021. In July 2021, news of their breakup was reported after he was caught driving under the influence. He later went to trial for charges including violations of the Capital Markets Act and fraud related to Pica Coin.
