Kim Hye-soo Remembers Late Choi Bool-am: “Someone Who Embraced Me Like His Own Child” ... A Bond That Also Included Sharing a Baptism Ceremony

[Financial News] Actor Choi Bool-am (real name Choi Yeong-han) reportedly received the Anointing of the Sick from Cardinal Yeom Su-jeong before his death.
According to people in broadcasting and Catholic circles on the 30th, Cardinal Yeom visited Choi Bool-am, who was receiving inpatient treatment at a hospital in Seoul’s Gangseo-gu, on the afternoon of the 20th and administered the Anointing of the Sick. The Anointing of the Sick is a Catholic rite that seeks grace and salvation for believers who are ill or seriously unwell.
Choi Bool-am was baptized in October 2018, with Cardinal Yeom officiating. Hoping to follow the spirit of serving neighbors in need, he personally chose Francis as his baptismal name. At the time, he also renewed his marriage vows with his wife, actor Kim Min-ja, who had been baptized in 1990.
Actor Kim Hye-soo also attended the ceremony. After playing mother and daughter with Kim Min-ja in the 1987 drama ‘Samogok,’ Kim Hye-soo remained close to the couple for many years.
At the time, Choi Bool-am expressed his gratitude, saying, “I have committed many wrongs without realizing it over the course of my life, but receiving baptism has allowed me to begin a new life.”

In 2021, Kim Hye-soo appeared on a 10th-anniversary special of KBS 1TV’s ‘Korean Cuisine and Dining’ and helped prepare a meal for Choi Bool-am with Kim Min-ja. Speaking of the couple, who had looked after her since she was young, she said, “They were like a mother and father to me.”
She also revealed that she had kept all the text messages she received from Choi Bool-am. On the show, Kim Hye-soo said, “The teacher’s messages are like poems.”
The messages made public at the time conveyed Choi Bool-am’s concern for a younger colleague setting off on a long journey. Choi asked Kim Hye-soo, who was heading to New York, “How do you make a journey that takes twelve or thirteen hours? Leaving behind Seoul, where a cool breeze is blowing.” He continued, “Autumn should be a season of longing, a season when grapes ripen, and the plane should be a season of dreams. Then go and come back. Let’s hear about the dream Hye-soo had.”
Meanwhile, Choi Bool-am, who died on the 29th, is lying in state in Room 20 of the funeral hall at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. In honor of his lifelong commitment to sharing with children and young people, his funeral will be held as a Green Umbrella Children's Foundation funeral. The funeral procession is scheduled for 7 a.m. on the 2nd of next month. Cardinal Yeom is also expected to officiate at the funeral Mass that day.
[email protected] Shin Jin-a Reporter