Sandara Park Accidentally Flexes Her Wealth With Extravagant Wedding Gifts For Acquaintances

Sandara Park, a soloist and a member of the iconic girl group 2NE1, is known to be among the wealthiest K-Pop idols. In a recent variety show appearance, the singer ended up unintentionally flexing her wealth while talking about congratulatory money.

Sandara Park | @daraxxi/Instagram

In Korean culture, gifting money to people during important occasions is customary. During weddings and funerals, guests are supposed to present cash in an envelope. Though the occasions are radically opposite, the sentiment is the same — the money is supposed to help the hosts with organizing the events. For weddings, it’s called “congratulatory money,” while for funerals, it is called “condolence money.”

Stock image of an envelope with congratulatory money | Naver Blog

When Sandara Park joined the October 6 broadcast of SBS Power FM’s Cultwo Show as a guest, the topic of congratulatory money came up during the conversation. A listener had sent in a message asking how much money they should give to someone at their wedding when they had given the listener ₩30,000 KRW (about $22.30 USD) as a wedding gift.

SBS Power FM’s “Cultwo Show” | SBS

Sandara Park confessed that this question is difficult for her to answer since she struggles with understanding the standard. She mentioned that there have been instances when newlyweds contacted her after receiving too much money from her at their wedding.

Since I didn’t know the standards well, there were times when I ended up giving a lot, and the newlyweds contacted me.

— Sandara Park

There was an instance where she ended up gifting ₩1.00 million KRW (about $744 USD) to someone she wasn’t even close with! When the other guest joked that he would pretend to get married just to receive congratulatory money from Sandara, she clarified that now she has reduced the amount quite a lot.

I didn’t know it (the standards) in Korea. I was ignorant about it while going to weddings or funerals, so I used to do that. But now I don’t. I have reduced it quite a lot.

— Sandara Park

Receiving such a huge cash gift might sound like a dream, but Sandara explained that it ended up becoming a mental burden to the person she had gifted ₩1.00 million KRW. He ended up buying her an expensive meal to feel at ease.

I later ran into that person, and he treated me with beef and left. When I asked my acquaintances, ‘Why did he do that?’, they said he would feel burdened if he didn’t.

— Sandara Park

She mentioned that she has cut the amount by half for acquaintances, while close staff members still receive the bigger amount!