Netizens are criticizing actress Jun Ji Hyun is receiving criticism for "exaggerating" her generosity to tenants of her buildings at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic.
It was recently reported that many celebrity property owners implemented huge discounts for their tenants for March and April as a way of helping tenants cope with the financial burdens brought about by the pandemic.
Celebrity couple Rain and Kim Tae Hee were the first to slash the rents in their properties by 50 percent in March. Another celebrity couple, Won Bin and Lee Na Young also reduced rent by 50 percent. Lee Hyori and Park Eun Hye, for their part, completely waived the rent for the entire month of March. Seo Jang Hoon implemented a rent discount of 10 percent for two months while Hong Seok Cheon also announced that he will lower the rent for his property in Itaewon.
Jun Ji Hyun, who owns three buildings, was also reported to lower the rent in her properties by 10 percent. However, an exclusive report from Sports World is now claiming that the actress only lowered the rent by 5 percent in one of her buildings and two stores from a business in another building. The report claimed that the discount was only applicable to businesses that were in danger of vacating.
Another source claimed that the two stores were given a discount of 10 percent on the rent while two other businesses were not provided discounts at all. One of the said businesses shut down in early March.
According to experts, landlords in high-value properties are not inclined to negotiate prices with tenants in the middle of a lease period since it is not hard to find new tenants to occupy the property.
Jun Ji Hyun's agency did not comment on the report, citing that it involved her personal affair but some reports surfaced that the actress was not in direct control of the property. Rather, it was her parents who reportedly controlled matters about the buildings.
This was not the first time that Jun Ji Hyun received criticism on her efforts to help with the Coronavirus pandemic. It can be recalled that she also received a lot of hate for not donating to the COVID-19 efforts during its early stages when other actors have already pitched in with donations to local treasuries.
A lot of netizens took to social media to share their displeasure at Jun Ji Hyun's lack of action when the pandemic was wreaking havoc in the lives of South Koreans, saying that she earned a lot from endorsements but did not donate, All Kpop reported.
Some defended the actress after learning of her donation, saying that donations should not be forced. They added that Jun Ji Hyun did more for the Coronavirus victims than those who criticized her without taking any action on their own.
Jun Ji Hyun recently made a comeback with a brief role in Netflix's Kingdom and is expected to return to the Kdrama scene with Mount Jiri, another project by Kingdom writer Kim Eun Hee. Park Seo Joon has also signed on to play the male lead.
