“Under the biggest K-Pop company…”
Koreaboo
1 hour ago
While being an idol is a dream job, many stars have shared the harsh reality of the industry, especially when it comes to pay.
K-Pop Idol Makes Money For The First Time Years After Debuting
Fromis_9‘s Jiwon is gaining attention for her shocking comments about her idol’s wages, leading to major backlash towards her former companies, both Pledis Entertainment and HYBE.
fromis_9’s Jiwon | @xjiwonparkx/Instagram
On the recent episode of Workdoll, Jiwon gained attention for her shocking comments about her pay as an idol.
In the part of the video that going viral, Jiwon revealed that for 8 years, until 2024, she had no money, adding that it wasn’t until recently that she had received a proper paycheck for her work.
fromis_9’s Jiwon talks about her income for the past eight years on Workdol:
“Up until 2024, I seriously had no money at all. Seriously. For eight years, I was completely broke. It’s only been recently that I started receiving a proper paycheck. So only now am I finally able to… pic.twitter.com/211ptW5yh9
— FROMIS_9 BASE (@fromisbase) June 17, 2026
Jiwon of fromis_9 reveals on Workdol that she has only been paid recently and therefore able to start saving up
Despite being under conglomerates like CJE&M and HYBE, the group has not received any settlement throughout 8 years of their career pic.twitter.com/lPuycGL6Fx
— fromis_9 NEWS (@fromisnews_) June 17, 2026
While there was no mention of a specific company, both Pledis Entertainment and HYBE were hit with backlash, especially after moving under the banner of HYBE with much more money; fans thought fromis_9 should have been paid fairly.
and yall said they were privileged to be under south korea’s biggest company https://t.co/j1TBHmGlzS
— eli (@jisunsdoll) June 17, 2026
It didn’t help that fromis_9 was put on 3 separate year long hiatuses by their former agencies, causing them lose so many opportunities to make money https://t.co/Jh7mlMUEeY
— vae (@nakkopedia) June 17, 2026
But fans like to say “HYBE treats their artists well.” https://t.co/KvajpHZBE2
— Christina Dirkes 💎 (@christinadirkes) June 17, 2026
they were under the biggest kpop company btw https://t.co/U4NxNrl4YY
— maja (@fromiao) June 17, 2026
bang sihyuk is worth billions and yet they never got paid a penny.. i need that man gone and that company liquidated https://t.co/txFvxwZT8s pic.twitter.com/epL6JvID1U
— ً (@jenicides) June 17, 2026
pledis you will get your karma one day https://t.co/04Koj9CND0
— kim ★ (@blacckpop) June 17, 2026