Heo Jeong Min, Kang Rae Yeon, and Seo Jae Kyung exposed the poor working conditions and corruption they experienced as child actors in the past.
On July 10th, the YouTube channel B-Level Studio released a video titled, “I definitely saw this a long time ago…We’ve invited popular child actors from the previous generation! | EP.31 Heo Jeong Min, Kang Rae Yeon, Seo Jae Kyung.”
In the video, Kang Rae Yeon said, “Back then, we weren’t treated like child actors are now, nor did we have any sense of fulfillment for our work or any protective measures for child actors.”
She continued, “Child actors these days earn huge amounts of money. But when we were kids, there was a child actor grade system. Because we were paid according to grades, even if we were popular, as child actors we earned less.”
Heo Jeong Min added, “The grades ranged from 1 to 5. The most successful were grade 5, and the least popular were grade 1.”
Kang Rae Yeon said, “The highest payment was ₩250,000 KRW (about $167 USD) per episode for dramas.” She also recalled that child actors had overnight shoots in the past, saying, “Back then, if filming went until sunset, we shot night scenes, then after sunrise, day scenes again. Dissolves were an everyday thing.” Heo Jeong Min added, “Our parents went through a lot.”
Seo Jae Kyung revealed, “It seems it was a corrupt era back then,” shocking viewers by saying, “When we made mistakes, we weren’t just lightly tapped—we were hit so hard we sometimes bled.”
Kang Rae Yeon expressed bitterness, saying, “The problem was, when we got hit, as child actors we would get worked up and push through. If we couldn’t cry for a crying scene, they’d hit us to make us cry. That would be unimaginable today.”
Seo Jae Kyung explained, “Usually it was the directors who hit us, but of course that was a minority and most were good people. Still, the atmosphere was shaped by one or two individuals.”
He also vented, “Back then, people in charge took a lot of under-the-table payments,” adding, “Looking back now, they accepted money through drinks, food, gifts—but all I have left now is debt.”
Heo Jeong Min also shocked many by exposing, “They took a lot of bribes from mothers promising to raise (child actor) grades.“