’90 Day Fiancé: Is Jihoon’s Salary Enough to Live on in South Korea?
Jihoon Lee and Deavan Clegg’s relationship has really been on the rocks since Clegg arrived in Korea. Though he told Clegg otherwise, Lee admitted to the 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way cameras what his real job is and how much money he makes. For the viewers who do not live in Korea, Lee’s salary might be hard to put in context with the cost of living there. So, how much does Lee’s salary really amount to?
Jihoon lied about his job
Lee and Clegg tried living together in Korea before. But last time, Clegg felt overwhelmed and overworked as Lee was in debt and could not contribute to the bills or the cost of raising their children. This time, Clegg only agreed to come to Korea under the assumption that Lee had a good job and could provide for her and the kids.
Before she arrived, Lee told Clegg that he had gotten a good job making $3,000-$4,000 a month. However, he told the cameras a different story.
“I don’t really have a job,” he said. “I have a side job doing deliveries. It goes by the hour and it’s a part-time job. I lied to Deavan because if I have no money, Deavan’s not [coming] to Korea.”
In reality, Lee could only make $2,000-$3,000 at his delivery job, and only if he worked around the clock.
How much does it cost to live in South Korea?
In South Korea, it is quite common for people to live with their parents until they get married or have a well-paying job. This is, in part, due to the high cost of moving out. According to Screen Rant, the down payment to rent a place can be from $10,000 to anywhere in the six figures. The rent can also be thousands of dollars, which means that it will be a while before Lee can afford to support his family in a place of their own.
There is no guarantee that Lee will even make the amount of money that he has told Clegg as it is all dependent on the number of hours that he works.
How does Deavan feel about Jihoon’s job?
Clegg was devastated to find out that Lee had lied to get her to come to Korea.
“Jihoon admitting that he’s not financially ready for us to come to Korea is devastating because he told me everything was fine,” she said to the cameras. “But he lied to trick me into coming and that’s not OK.”
And when Lee admitted that he took the part-time position so he could rest whenever he wanted, Clegg only became more irate.
“I was very tired yet I was working 17 hours a day while taking care of the kids,” she told him. “I am just shocked right now. For me to put in all of that time to make sure my family was OK while he took a part-time job just so he could take more naps is ridiculous.”
By the time the episode ended, Clegg wasn’t sure if she wanted to be with Lee at all.
“It feels absolutely like s*it that he tricked me,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do right now. And I just really need some time away from Jihoon to figure out whether I’m going to stay with him or if I’m going to go back to America and leave him.”
