Kim Yong Bin has more than 50 bank books, and he has kept every single one. The trot singer revealed on October 11’s episode of KBS2’s “Boss in the Mirror” that his grandmother saved all of his performance earnings from childhood, and he still holds onto each passbook.
He told the story while meeting senior singer Kim Yeon Ja on episode 376 of the show. “I started singing trot at four, and I appeared on ‘Morning Plaza’ at seven,” he said. “Back then I got 50,000 won for a performance in the countryside. That was around 1997 or 1998.”
His grandmother, who raised him, never touched a won. “She didn’t spend any of it. She gave me all the money she had saved,” Kim said. “I still have all the passbooks with the memories she made for me.”
Kim Yeon Ja was visibly surprised. “She saved all the performance money for you?” she said. Kim explained he holds “more than 50” accounts, and treasures them because banks no longer show records from 20 years ago.
Asked about the amounts, Kim only hinted that “quite a lot” had accumulated. Kim Yeon Ja said, “The value of money has dropped a lot, so that’s a shame. Just collecting money isn’t the best thing. You should buy gold or invest.”
Kim also opened up about still not owning his own home. The 300 million won prize from “Mr. Trot 3” went toward paying off debt from years of album releases and activities.
