"Jeon Du-hwan's Safe, Stacks of 10 Million Won Cash Bundles Neatly Against the Wall"

Jeon Du-hwan's Grandson Jeon Woo-won Reveals Yeonhui-dong House Video
CBS Radio Interview "There Is Also a Hair Salon in the House"
"If There Are Cash Bundles, Acquaintances and Family Can Take Them"

"Only someone who knows the combination can open the safe, and it’s the kind of safe that you have to turn like this to open. When you open the safe and go inside, there were stacks of cash bundles in units of 10 million won all neatly tied up and prepared, and they said these were all stacked neatly against the wall."

Jeon Woo-won, grandson of former President Jeon Du-hwan, conveyed this in an interview with CBS Radio on the 11th regarding his grandfather’s house in Yeonhui-dong. Woo-won also revealed internal footage showing the front gate, entrance, and living room of the Yeonhui-dong house.

Woo-won said, "You can see the front gate. There is a staircase that goes straight up. This is a two-story building located to the left after going up the stairs. It was remodeled a few years ago, so it looks somewhat modern," adding, "It’s not in this video, but there is a very spacious basement where many guests were invited, and chefs were brought in to cook and serve meals during events. There was a separate space used for such occasions."

Jeon Woo-won, the grandson of former President Jeon Du-hwan, explaining a video of his grandfather's house in Yeonhui-dong.
[Photo by CBS Radio Kim Hyun-jung's News Show YouTube video]

Woo-won said, "It’s connected to the restaurant downstairs. There’s also a hair salon," and continued, "Next to the hair salon, there was a large storage-like space. There was a wardrobe that my grandmother used, and if you pushed the wall there, there was the kind of safe I mentioned earlier."

Woo-won explained, "After entering the wardrobe and storage, there were several corridors inside that room as well. But at the end of one of those corridors, if you pushed the wall, the safe would appear," he said.

"What I saw was that when guests came, it was common to give them money envelopes containing 10 million won or 1 million won repeatedly. There was money in the safe, and also money in the safe located in the basement. But passing through my grandfather’s bedroom on the ground floor, there was also a separate study. There, the walls were always full of cash, and on weekends when guests or family members came, they would bring double bags and fill them with cash worth several hundred million won each. Then they would take those bags away."

Woo-won said, "It was really like money was pouring down from the sky. Whenever money came in, the secretaries would carry it in, stack it up, and people who needed it would take it," adding, "The secretaries and security guards would keep bringing large bags filled with bundles of cash, stacking them up, and when acquaintances or family members came, they would take some."

Woo-won also raised suspicions of money laundering through the Jeon Du-hwan family’s companies. He said, "Money just kept coming into the house. Those who helped with money laundering obviously gained a lot, so they devoted their loyalty completely. Even now, many of them remain silent," he said.

Woo-won also shared his feelings about his visit to Gwangju.

"I want to move around as quietly as possible and have time to connect and learn from the citizens actually living in Gwangju, person to person. Because around me, there have always only been people siding with my grandfather, so I haven’t had many opportunities to hear the stories of those who were actually harmed here in Gwangju. No matter how much I searched online, I couldn’t hear these stories. So I think it’s a great blessing that this opportunity has been created for me. I want to go, listen, learn, sincerely apologize, and help ease the deeply held resentments."