6 billion shopping malls → 65 billion hotel acquisition..Seo Jang-hoon admires record of desperate self-made song (neighbor millionaire)
Nov 13, 2025
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On EBS 'Seo Jang-hoon's Neighborhood Millionaires' (hereinafter 'Neighborhood Millionaires'), which aired on the 12th, Chairman Yuk Kwang-sim, who is fostering future hotel talents as the nation's largest hotel school, revealed a warm educational outlook for students and the secret to their success. Chairman Yuk Kwang-sim, who was born in Dumesangol in the past and was a penniless mountain boy whose dream is to become a goat rancher, was using the hotel building, which was acquired for about 65 billion won, as an educational facility for students.
Yuk Kwang-sim, a young CEO who majored in tourism, first got a job at a culinary institute in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, and married his wife, a hometown friend, at the young age of 23. He sold his newlywed row house and moved to a semi-basement single room, and started his own cooking school based on the profits. Chairman Yuk Kwang-sim's wife was anxious. I didn't have any money in my bank account...When I think about that time, I cry. Still, I followed my husband because it was what he had to do," he recalled of the fierce time.
He raised the enrollment rate with differentiated marketing that provides 'visit counseling' directly to prospective students who called after seeing a flyer of a cooking academy posted on a telephone pole. In the early and mid-1990s, his cooking academy went viral as 'Twinkle Academy' and achieved annual sales of 1 to 2 billion won. Seo Jang-hoon gushed, `It's almost a small business.' Chairman Yuk Kwang-sim, who aimed to purchase a building with a cooking academy, also carried out a lunch box delivery business when the academy was operated. By reducing sleep time, lunch boxes were made from dawn and delivered in the early morning, and during the day, they continued their compulsory march to lecture. Seo Jang-hoon "A lot of people ask how you make money. Everyone sleeps when others are playing. Everyone plays when they're playing...How can I make money in that way?" he said, sympathizing with Chairman Yuk Kwang-sim's fierce efforts.
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Chairman Yuk Kwang-sim's home, which has a backyard of more than 3,000 pyeong, was also unveiled on the broadcast. In the backyard of the house, which features a luxurious chandelier and a stylish kitchen, a golf practice course and a jjimjilbang were built and opened to the villagers. On the other hand, he acquired and operated two middle schools and one high school in Yesan, Chungcheongnam-do, which were on the verge of closing. Chairman Yuk Kwang-sim said "If schools are destroyed in the region, they will take away the opportunity for education." I think the existence of the school is in line with the existence of the local area"He didn't mind doing bad things for the school. He said that he is investing between KRW 40 million and KRW 50 million a year in schools without the chairman's salary, saying, `If you look at the accumulation of wealth, I'm rich. If you ask me if I succeeded, I don't think I'm successful yet. In the end, when the students I taught succeeded, I can say that I succeededHe also persuaded his children of the value of social return and expressed his sincerity about fostering future talents.
Next week, Lee Neung-gu, the founder of the country's first rice processing company, will be broadcasted. EBS 'Seo Jang-hoon's Neighborhood Millionaires' airs every Wednesday night at 9:55 p.m.
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