“So Dad won’t be alone on his final journey...”: Kim Hye-soo’s true character, keeping vigil at the late Choi Bool-am’s funeral for three days straight

[Financial News] By the side of the late Choi Bool-am, “the nation’s father,” on his final journey was actor Kim Hye-soo, who, though not related to him by blood, quietly kept vigil at his funeral as if she were his real daughter.
According to the entertainment industry on the 1st, Kim Hye-soo stayed at the funeral hall at Asan Medical Center in Seoul for all three days, from the start of visitation on the 30th of last month, sharing the family’s grief. After playing mother and daughter with the deceased’s wife, Kim Min-ja, in the 1987 drama Samogok, she had called him “Father” and been especially close to him. She effectively took it upon herself to serve as chief mourner for the veteran actor’s final journey.

Kim Hye-soo stayed at the funeral hall late into the night, personally arranging the shoes left by mourners and respectfully seeing off senior actors, leaving a deeply moving impression. In particular, when Kim Min-ja, the deceased’s wife, who was overcome with grief after losing her lifelong partner, left the funeral hall, Kim Hye-soo supported her and wrapped a scarf around her herself, gently comforting the grieving family. She had treasured the text messages the deceased sent her, saying they were “like a poem.” The devoted way she mourned as she said goodbye to “Father” brought a quiet, profound warmth to those inside and outside the funeral hall.
The younger generation’s heartfelt tributes to the deceased continued across generations.
Lee Je-hoon, who worked alongside him in the drama Chief Detective 1958, visited the funeral hall and said, “Your childlike, warm smile was a great inspiration. I thought that if my own paternal grandfather were still alive, perhaps he would have been just like you,” swallowing back the tears he had held in. Actress Chae Shi-ra also paid tribute on social media, writing, “I learned so much just from watching you. You worked so hard to make it through life.”


The deceased, who embraced the joys and sorrows of the public throughout his life, now enters eternal rest. The funeral procession will be held privately and quietly at 7:40 a.m. on the 2nd, followed by a Funeral Mass at 9 a.m. at Yeouido Catholic Church, celebrated by Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung. He will then be laid to rest at Donghwa Gyeongmo Park in Paju-si, Gyeonggi Province, after passing by the Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation, where he devoted himself as chair of its supporters’ association for some 40 years.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter