Kim Min-seok: “You always treated me warmly” ... Pays respects to late Choi Bool-am, rival 30 years ago

[Financial News] Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who competed against the late actor Choi Bool-am (whose real name was Choi Young-han) in a general election 30 years ago, visited his mourning altar to pay tribute. Kim remembers him as a senior who treated him warmly even while they were campaigning against each other.
After paying his respects at the mourning altar at the funeral hall of Asan Medical Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the 30th, Kim told reporters, “He always treated me so warmly that I never even thought of him as a rival,” adding, “Knowing how he felt makes me all the more sad and grateful.”
Kim paid tribute to the deceased as someone who was a role model for the public not only through his acting but also through his generous character. He also said he would lend his support to carrying on the deceased’s efforts on behalf of young people.
Park Seong-jun, the Democratic Party’s chief spokesperson, who accompanied Kim on the visit, said that the deceased’s wife, actor Kim Min-ja, had shared that Choi supported Kim at a party convention.
The two faced off in the 1996 general election, the 15th National Assembly election. Kim, who ran as a candidate for the National Congress for New Politics in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo B constituency, competed against Choi, who ran for the New Korea Party. Choi was an incumbent lawmaker who had entered the 14th National Assembly in 1992 as a proportional-representation member for the United People’s Party.
During the campaign, Kim ran with the slogan, “Choi Bool-am to the stage, Kim Min-seok to the National Assembly.” Kim received 49,657 votes, defeating Choi, who received 33,020, and became the youngest person elected to the 15th National Assembly. Choi later returned to acting.
Earlier that day, Kim also recalled on Facebook that it had been an honor to run against Choi. He said he would treasure Choi’s words of encouragement after the election, when the late actor urged him to become a “national-treasure-level politician.”
Choi Bool-am was loved by the public for many years as Captain Park Young-han in “Chief Detective” and Chairman Kim of Yangchon-ri in “Country Diaries.” As chair of ChildFund Korea’s national supporters’ association, he supported children in Korea and abroad, and also helped young people reintegrate into society through the incorporated association Zero Camp.
The deceased died on the 29th while receiving inpatient treatment at a hospital in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. He was 87. His funeral will be held over five days under the auspices of ChildFund Korea.
The funeral procession is scheduled for around 7:40 a.m. on November 2. A funeral Mass will be held at Yeouido Cathedral at around 9 a.m. that day, and farewells will be said at ChildFund Korea headquarters at around 10:40 a.m. He will be laid to rest at Donghwa Gyeongmo Park in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
[email protected] Shin Jin-a, Jang In-seo Reporter