Seoul, en.SERU.co.id – Park Jiwon, a member of fromis_9, openly revealed her painful financial experiences eight years after her debut. She made the statement on the latest episode of the variety show Workdol, which aired on Thursday (17/6/2026) on the YouTube channel Workman.
In the episode titled “Can I Keep This Money Instead?”, Jiwon was working a day job at IBK Industrial Bank of Korea. While chatting, she shared that she had basically no income for eight years after the group’s debut in January 2018.
“I had no income for eight years. I was completely broke. I only recently started receiving settlements, and now I’m finally saving money little by little,” she said.
She added that up until 2024, she “seriously had no money at all,” even though fromis_9 kept releasing music and doing activities under different agencies over the years.
fromis_9 originally debuted under Stone Music Entertainment via the survival show Idol School. The group later moved to Pledis Entertainment (under HYBE) before their contracts ended in late 2024. In January 2025, Jiwon and four other members: Song Hayoung, Lee Chaeyoung, Lee Nagyung, and Baek Jiheon signed with startup agency ASND. The shift appears to have finally brought more stable payments for them.
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Her comments reflect a pretty common reality in the K-pop industry, where trainees and idols often go years before seeing real money due to high debut and promotion costs.
The clip spread quickly among fans (known as Flovers), who were surprised but appreciative of Jiwon’s honesty. She’s been hosting Workdol since early 2026 and has been praised for how natural she is on the show.
As of now, neither ASND nor Jiwon’s representatives have added further comments on the matter.
*(Sources: Allkpop, Koreanophiles, fromis_9 Fandom Wiki & official announcements)
