[Sportschosun Lee Woo-joo] Lee Yeon-bok of 'Playlist 109' opened up about the heartbreaking story of how he was unable to be at his father's deathbed.
The Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) entertainment program 'Playlist 109,' which aired on the 8th, featured chef Lee Yeon-bok.
Lee Yeon-bok said he began cooking at the age of 13 to help support his family. "At the time, I was attending a Chinese school, but the tuition was expensive, and my parents had a hard time supporting us because there were three sons and two daughters. Back then, if you didn't pay your tuition, they would make you stand during class. I thought, 'If it's going to be like this, I might as well not attend school.' I didn't want to go, so I told my parents I was going to school, went up to Namsan, stayed there all day, and returned home around the time school ended. Eventually, I dropped out and started by making deliveries for a Chinese restaurant," he said.
After starting out as a delivery worker, Lee Yeon-bok said, "Delivery workers earned 3,000 won a month at the time. I always thought I had to make a lot of money. I asked who earned the most, and they said it was the head chef. So I tried to get on the kitchen staff's good side and started by washing dishes." He added, "I served as head chef several times at small Chinese restaurants, but I did not truly become one until I was 22, when I became the head chef at the Taiwanese Embassy."
Lee Yeon-bok explained that he chose to go to Japan after facing limitations in cooking and losing his sense of smell because of severe sinusitis. "I felt limited in cooking, and because my sinusitis was so severe, I had surgery and lost my sense of smell. At the time, I wondered whether I should change careers. A friend working in Japan tempted me by saying that, at that level, I could earn ten times more in Japan," he said. He continued, "My entry was delayed because the paperwork took so long, and by the time I arrived much later, the job I had arranged was gone. I took a simple part-time job. I hid the fact that I had been a head chef in Korea and started from the bottom. The chef who worked with us was always getting into trouble, and one day he suddenly stopped coming to work. I asked, 'Could I give it a try?' and began cooking. That's how I became the head chef."
Japan was enjoying an economic boom at the height of its bubble economy. Lee Yeon-bok surprised viewers by saying, "Thanks to that, I came back to Korea and bought a house."
While building a successful career through cooking, Lee Yeon-bok said his time in Japan had actually been very difficult. "When I went to Japan, I put everything in order with the resolve that I would never come back. I withdrew my deposit, prepared only enough money for living expenses, and left the children with their grandmother," he said. "While I was in Japan, my father fell ill. He was bedridden for six years after suffering a stroke and then passed away, but I couldn't be there for his final moments," he confessed.
Lee Yeon-bok emphasized, "When I heard that he had passed away and came back to Korea, I couldn't even cry. I thought, 'Why cry now that he's gone? I should have treated him well while he was alive,' and the tears wouldn't come. I felt that if I cried, it would seem fake. But when I came home that evening and lay down, the tears poured out. People always say, 'I'll make a lot of money and be a good son or daughter,' but it's all meaningless. Even if you don't have money, seeing your parents often and sharing meals with them is what filial piety is about."
Finally, Lee Yeon-bok stated, "As people go through life, they sometimes lose something important. In many cases, after losing one thing, they gain another. If I work as hard as I can with whatever I still have, difficult times and despair eventually end, and a new door may open wide. You must not give up too easily."
wjlee@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
