Overview
- His family said he died at home in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang, on Dec. 30, 2025 after a chronic illness.
- After a printing-shop bankruptcy in the late 1970s, he opened a small fried-chicken store called Gyeseong Tongdak in Daegu’s Hyomok-dong.
- In 1980 he created yangnyeom fried chicken by pairing a chili-and-syrup sauce with a yeomji brining method to keep the meat juicy.
- He developed chicken-mu, a pickled radish side, to cut greasiness and it became a standard accompaniment.
- He launched the Mexicana/Mexican Chicken brand in 1985, ran what reports describe as the first fried-chicken TV commercial in South Korea, and grew the chain to about 1,700 outlets.