Park Jung Min recently shared the story behind his unexpected transition from acting to becoming the CEO of a publishing company.
He appeared on the popular Korean talk show You Quiz on the Block on Wednesday, marking his first appearance on the program in four years. During the episode, Park Jung Min introduced himself not as an actor, but as the head of a publishing house —a significant departure from his usual work in front of the camera.
When host Yoo Jae Suk asked about rumors that Park Jung Min had taken a sabbatical, he quickly cleared things up: “I never actually used the words hiatus or sabbatical,” Park Jung Min explained. “It was a bit of a misunderstanding. I just said I was going to take about a year off, but somehow it got blown out of proportion.”
Park Jung Min went on to say, “It’s pretty common for actors to take a year off, but my comment made headlines. There was nothing unusual happening.” He also shared a personal reflection: “One day, I looked in the mirror and realized I was making an expression I recognized from a character I’d played, not my true self. It was unsettling. I started wondering if I’d exhausted my range as an actor and why I was mimicking movie expressions even in everyday life.”
On the show, Yoo Jae Suk, knowing that Park Jung Min shares an agency with fellow actor Hwang Jung Min, asked how Hwang Jung Min reacted when Park Jung Min mentioned taking a break. Park Jung Min responded with a playful impression of Hwang Jung Min: “He said, ‘Don’t take a break! I need to rest too, but if you stop, who’s going to keep the company making money?”
When Yoo Jae Suk pointed out that Park Jung Min’s schedule had actually gotten busier despite announcing a break, Park Jung Min admitted, “I’m thinking of taking that statement back. I misspoke. Now that I’m a CEO and promoting writers’ work, I’m trying every opportunity that comes my way.”
Addressing rumors that he boosted the printing of his new books to coincide with his You Quiz appearance, Park Jung Min laughed and said, “People in publishing say appearing on You Quiz is the best kind of promotion. I even called bookstores to check. It’s a little awkward, but better than having no books available.”
Park Jung Min also revealed he once ran a bookstore near Hongdae, a trendy arts district in Seoul. “I had a place there, but since I mostly just slept there, local people started coming by to read the books I left out.” When asked why he closed the shop, Park Jung Min said, “Running a bookstore requires constant effort. I felt it was dishonest to treat it as a side project. You have to keep recommending books, but I’m the kind of person who gets stuck in one place.”
During the interview, Yoo Jae Suk asked if Park Jung Min’s publishing company, Muze (which means Untitled in Korean), had any connection to G-Dragon. Park Jung Min quickly denied the link and added that many people have suggested he change the company’s name.
Park Jung Min gave some candid insights into the challenges of the publishing industry today: “I’m still new to this, but things don’t look great. Our book became a bestseller, but that means selling only about 300 copies a day across the country,” he revealed, surprising viewers.
He explained that his publishing company is a two-person operation running out of a small studio apartment with just two desks. When Yoo Jae Suk suggested that he might need a more private workspace, Park Jung Min promised to install partitions.
In an innovative twist, Park Jung Min said his company releases audiobooks first, especially to serve visually impaired readers, and then publishes the physical books about a month later. This approach was inspired by his father, who has struggled with vision problems since childhood. “I wanted not only my father but others with visual impairments to have access to our books first,” Park Jung Min explained.
For the latest novel, My First Summer, Wanju, by author Kim Keum Hee, 15 actors, including Choi Yang Rak and Yum Jung Ah, donated their voices for the audiobook as a volunteer effort.
Park Jung Min also opened up about a personal tragedy that coincided with the timing of his publishing career. “Around the time our first book came out, my father lost his sight due to an accident,” he said. “I realized I’d been carrying a kind of self-pity, thinking I’m the son of a disabled person, and I found that feeling both shameful and embarrassing.”
