Former announcer and broadcaster Yoon Young-mi shocked viewers by confessing her desperate struggle and the eventual sense of liberation after spending 13 long years solely funding her two sons’ education in the United States.
Appearing on MBN’s ‘Dongchimi’ on May 2, Yoon Young-mi began discussing the topic “Where is the end of earning money?” by revealing, “For 13 years, I was solely responsible for the US education of my two sons, who were born in consecutive years.”
She revealed that they attended some of the most expensive universities in New York, costing over 100 million won per person annually, suggesting that the total cost, including middle and high school, reached at least 2.6 billion won.
Her children’s studies abroad began just as she transitioned to freelance work, which pushed her life to the brink.
Yoon Young-mi confessed, “I had to earn all the money alone, sending 20 to 25 million won a month,” while she herself endured living in a rented apartment.
The burden was even heavier because her husband, a pastor who helps North Korean defectors, had no income. She expressed her desperation at the time, saying, “He is a pastor who serves rather than one who earns money, so there was no income. I felt like there was no end to the earning.”
Her physical and mental exhaustion reached its peak. Handling four to five schedules a day while enduring menopausal pain, she recalled, “I didn’t turn down even jobs that paid 100,000 won. I even canceled my insurance to secure the tuition fees.”
Recalling a time of extreme loneliness, Yoon Young-mi brought viewers to tears by sharing, “Due to the loneliness and pressure, I once prayed, ‘Please let me not wake up tomorrow morning.'”
The tunnel that seemed endless finally ended two years ago when her two sons graduated. Although she was left with only 970,000 won in her account, the feeling of liberation from no longer having to send huge tuition payments was irreplaceable.
She shared, “I only had 970,000 won left in my bank account, but I was so happy that I didn’t have to send tuition anymore. I found myself dancing in the middle of Times Square in New York.”
Having recently received luxury bags from her grown sons for her 30th wedding anniversary, Yoon Young-mi concluded her long journey of supporting her children’s education by saying, “Now that the hard times have passed, I finally feel a sense of reward.”
