01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
YouTuber donates profits from 'When Life Gives You Tangerines' reviews for Jeju Island
Contribution made to the foundation commemorating the island's painful history of civilian massacre in 1940s and 50s
A local YouTuber said recently he was donating the entire profits he made with review videos about a hit drama "When Life Gives You Tangerines" to the Jeju 4.3 Peace Foundation, a government-funded body that commemorates the civilian massacre that took place on the island from 1947 to 1954.
Kim Hong-gyu, the Jeju-born YouTuber and comedian, said he has made about 3.43 million won ($2,334) with the review videos.
"I've thought a lot about how I should use this money. ... Many people don't really know about April 3, so I decided to donate the profits of (review videos of) 'When Life Gives You Tangerines,' which carries the spirit of Jeju, to the Jeju 4.3 Peaceh Foundation."
Kim revealed the transaction record of him sending 5 million won, the rest coming out of his own pocket, to the foundation. He expressed his wishes that more people would take interest in the incident, and care more about the Jeju Island.
Kim was born and raised on the island and currently resides in Jeju City. Most of his videos are comedy sketches and reviews of local eateries, and Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Government in 2023 recognized his contributions by naming him a PR ambassador for the southern island.
The popular Netflix series "When Life Gives You Tangerines" does not directly depict the April 3 Incident, but focuses on the lives of those living in 1960s Jeju.
The April 3 Incident or Jeju Massacre refers to the island-wide crackdown by the newly liberated Korea's authorities against what they said were communist collaborators.
In what is considered one of the worst abuses of state power in the country's history, at least 14,822 civilians are confirmed to have been killed or gone missing in the incident as of 2024, nearly 1,000 of whom were aged 10 or younger.
