Kang Min-kyung of K-pop ballad duo Davichi responded to criticism regarding the salary of employees of her online shopping mall.

Earlier this month, Kang came under fire after her fashion business Àvie muah uploaded a recruitment ad. The ad for a customer service position sought a university graduate, fluent in English with three to seven years of experience. The contract position offered an annual salary of 25 million won ($19,700).

Netizens criticized that the salary was too low, especially for someone required to have ample work experience and skills. They added that the full-time position was only earning around the hourly minimum wage in Korea of 9,620 won.

The fact that Kang is also a successful YouTuber known for her affluent lifestyle added fuel to fire.

On Thursday, Kang wrote a post addressing the issue on her Instagram account.

“I was surprised at the flood of DMs and checked the recruitment ad again,” she wrote. “And I was surprised even more. We had accidentally posted the starting salary.”

Kang also listed employee benefits offered by Àvie muah, such as insurances, paid annual and monthly leaves, extra pay for overtime, meal reimbursements, snacks and gift cards for Korean holidays and birthdays.

However, public opinion remains skeptical as most of the benefits she listed are mandated by labor laws. Some say that 25 million won a year is still not enough even for a starting salary, especially when Kang recently purchased a 6.5-billion-won building in Seoul to use as her online mall’s office.

Kang debuted as a member of Davichi in 2008 and gained popularity with songs like "8282" (2009), "Let the time stop" (2010) and "Unspoken Words" (2019). She launched her fashion mall business in 2020.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]