On June 2, NewsPirit revealed that actress Seo Hyun-jin filed for a court auction in April 2025 after her landlord failed to return the jeonse deposit for a luxury villa she had been renting in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam, Seoul.
According to Supreme Court records, Seo entered into a jeonse lease agreement in April 2020 with a deposit of ₩2.5 billion KRW (approx. USD 1.8 million), which she later renewed in 2022 with an increased deposit of ₩2.625 billion KRW (approx. USD 1.9 million). Despite registering her leaseholder rights, she was unable to reclaim her funds when the lease expired in April 2024.
In an effort to recover the money, Seo vacated the property and initiated auction proceedings. However, the villa has since been classified as a “kkangtong house,” a slang term referring to properties whose market value has plummeted below the sum of their loans and deposits.
Although initially appraised at ₩2.873 billion KRW, the property failed to attract buyers in its first auction round. The current minimum bid has dropped to approximately ₩2.298 billion KRW — far below the threshold Seo needs to fully recover her deposit.
Given the continued downturn in Korea’s real estate market, experts are pessimistic about the chances of the property selling at or above ₩2.625 billion KRW, suggesting that Seo may incur a significant financial loss.
Despite the personal setback, Seo Hyun-jin is pushing forward with her career. She is set to return to the small screen in her upcoming drama Love Me, a Korean adaptation of the Swedish series created by Josephine Bornebusch. The drama tells the story of a slightly selfish but deeply relatable family navigating love and personal growth.
