“My Grandfather” ... So Yoo-jin, Kim Sun-a and Kim Ho-young pay tribute to the late Choi Bool-am

[Financial News] Tributes from the entertainment industry continue to pour in for actor Choi Bool-am (born Choi Young-han). Younger colleagues have taken to social media to look back on their memories of him and wish him peaceful rest.
On the 30th, So Yoo-jin posted an image of chrysanthemums on social media and remembered how Choi Bool-am had doted on her like a granddaughter while they were filming the drama “Happy Ending.” She called him “my grandfather” and said, “Rest peacefully in heaven,” in a final farewell.
The two appeared together in the JTBC drama “Happy Ending,” which aired in 2012. In her tribute, So Yoo-jin reflected on the bond they formed through the show and the warmth she had received from her senior colleague.
That same day, Kim Sun-a also posted on social media: “Mr. Choi Bool-am, may you rest in peace. May you rest eternally. I hope you are at peace there.”
Musical actor Kim Ho-young expressed regret that he had never met Choi Bool-am in person while he was alive. He wrote, “Mr. Choi Bool-am, whom I had never met but had always wanted to meet at least once, may you rest in peace.”
Actor Jung Yu-mi posted a tribute alongside a black-and-white photo of Choi Bool-am. She wished him peace, saying she would remember and follow the warmth of her senior colleague throughout her life. Kim Gyu-ri also said that although she had never met him in person, she had grown up watching his work, and expressed her gratitude as one of his viewers.
Choi Soo-jong, who took over as host of KBS 1TV’s “Korean Cuisine and Dining” after Choi Bool-am, also paid tribute to him. He said Choi had deeply cherished the lives reflected in the hard work of neighbors and the meals on their tables, and shared that he was happy and grateful to have been able to be with his senior colleague under his wing.
Choi Bool-am began his acting career in the 1959 play “Hamlet” and was selected as a specially recruited television actor by KBS in 1967. He won viewers’ affection over many years, playing Chief Park Young-han in “Chief Detective” and Chairman Kim of Yangchon-ri in “Country Diaries.”
From 2011 through last year, he hosted “Korean Cuisine and Dining,” sharing food from across the country and the lives of the people behind it. He also worked to promote giving for children in Korea and abroad as chair of ChildFund Korea’s National Supporters’ Association.
He died on the 29th while receiving inpatient treatment at a hospital in Seoul’s Gangseo District. He was 87. A wake was arranged at Asan Medical Center’s funeral hall in Seoul’s Songpa District.
His funeral will be held over five days as a ChildFund Korea-organized funeral, with the funeral procession scheduled to depart at around 7:40 a.m. on November 2. A funeral Mass will be held at around 9 a.m. that same day at Yeouido Catholic Church in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo District. He will be buried at Donghwa Gyeongmo Park in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
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