Rapper GREE, the son of comedian Kim Gu-ra, opened up with candid humor about his family’s history connected to Jeju Island.
On the 22nd, GREE dropped a video on his YouTube channel showing him touring Jeju with friends and hunting down local hotspots. While eating at a famed black pork restaurant, he said, "I’ve probably hit close to 100 restaurants in Jeju." When a friend asked why, GREE calmly replied, "Jeju is where my mom once went into hiding after taking on a big debt."
As the room fell silent, he quickly added, "I’m joking." But he followed up with, "It’s 90% real, 10% joke. There was a time my mother moved down to Jeju to learn work and get on her feet. We’ve built up that database for about 10 years since then."
It may have sounded like a throwaway joke, but GREE’s family story has been shared multiple times on TV. Kim Gu-ra married a non-celebrity in 1997 and had his son GREE, but they divorced in 2015 amid his ex-wife’s debt issues.
Back then, Kim Gu-ra reportedly faced asset seizures due to his ex-wife’s debts and guarantees, shouldering around 1.7 billion won (approximately $1.2 million), which made headlines. He later revealed that he paid off the entire amount in about three years, drawing widespread attention.