EBS ‘Seo Jang-hoon’s Neighbor Millionaire’

Ahn Young-hwan, the protagonist of the ‘reverse-run success story’ that even startled Seo Jang-hoon, confesses on the broadcast, “I do not know why I am drawn to it; it is simply in my blood.”

‘Seo Jang-hoon’s Neighbor Millionaire’ spotlights Ahn Young-hwan’s tenacious ‘single-track hanok life,’ tracing how he went from a thriving U.S. computer engineer to the owner of the nation’s first hanok hotel. It also reveals the shocking story of how he sold even a building on prime land in Myeong-dong to go all in on hanok.

Airing at 9:55 p.m. on the 8th, EBS ‘Seo Jang-hoon’s Neighbor Millionaire’ features Ahn Young-hwan, the first in Korea to turn a hanok into a hotel, the figure behind our country’s ‘Hanok Experience Business No. 1.’ From his fateful first encounter with hanok to 35 years of walking only the ‘hanok single path,’ his life of resolve and challenge unfolds.

In the 1980s, Ahn worked in the United States as a computer engineer, enjoying a high salary and a stable life. Wanting a new challenge rather than following the set path, he let go of everything and chose to return to Korea. After coming back, he jumped into real estate development to help his father, when by chance an acquaintance asked, “I want to tear down a hanok and build a villa.” Thinking it too much of a waste to demolish a 150-year-old hanok, he suggested a business that would utilize the hanok, and before he knew it, he himself ended up opening a Korean restaurant. Hearing this, Seo Jang-hoon asked, “From the standpoint of a real estate developer, would not you make money by tearing down the hanok and putting up a villa?” Ahn admits, “I cannot logically explain why I am drawn to it. I just feel a pull in my blood.”

Falling in love with hanok, Ahn chose a different path, even going against the current of the times. In the late 1990s, as a development boom saw old hanok disappear one by one, replaced by villas and row houses, he boldly sold a commercial property he owned to purchase an old hanok in Bukchon. Despite fierce opposition from his family, his conviction did not waver. To preserve as much as possible of the original form of this historically valuable hanok, Ahn poured a full two years into restoration alone, and here he began in earnest to nurture the dream of a ‘hanok hotel.’

He then invested massive funds to complete today’s super-sized hanok hotel on a 5,000-pyeong site with 22 buildings. Regarding the construction costs, he reveals, “I covered the shortfall beyond what I earned from the Korean restaurant by selling a building in Myeong-dong,” astonishing everyone. Born after a full 15 years of construction, this place also drew attention in May this year during the Korea-Japan summit as the venue where President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Takaichi had dinner and watched a traditional performance.

The broadcast also unveils the backstory behind Ahn’s 30 years of antique collecting. Throughout his hanok hotel, cultural-heritage-caliber antiques, including the handwriting of Yulgok Yi I and Uam Song Si-yeol, as well as white porcelain and old furniture, are displayed everywhere, creating an atmosphere as if one were traveling back to the Joseon era.

Ahn shares his distinctive philosophy, saying, “I wanted to give guests an experience beyond a simple stay, as if spending a night in a museum.” His extraordinary daily life, lived alongside hundreds of antiques, also draws attention. Everyone is amazed to see him sleep on a 150-year-old bed and drink tea from a 500-year-old antique cup. He states, “Rather than leaving them merely on display, they should be used in everyday life,” revealing his own conviction toward antiques. However, there was also a nightmare of an accident in which 1,100 antiques he had cherished and collected were reduced to ashes in an instant. Ahn, choking up, adds, “It would have been better if the money had burned instead...”

What on earth happened to him? The hidden story of Ahn Young-hwan, who even confessed to ‘guilt,’ can be found on Wednesday, July 8, at 9:55 p.m. on EBS ‘Seo Jang-hoon’s Neighbor Millionaire.’