Mourners Continue to Pay Respects at Actor Choi Bool-am's Wake; Kim Hye-ja's Words, "It's Not the End," Resonate Deeply

[Anchor]

Mourners continued to visit the wake today for veteran actor Choi Bool-am, who passed away the day before yesterday (October 29). Fellow actors who spent many years alongside him left deeply emotional farewells, expressing that this is not the end for him.

Reporter Seo Donggyun has the details.

[Reporter]

On the second day, a steady stream of mourners visited the wake of actor Choi Bool-am, who passed away at the age of 87 the day before yesterday.

Set up at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, the wake saw a continuous procession of senior and junior colleagues who worked with the late actor in his representative drama series, Rural Diaries.

For actor Kim Hye-ja, who spent a long time acting as his spouse in the drama, the sorrow was greater than for anyone else.

[Kim Hye-ja / Actor: I want to say let's meet soon. How much longer am I going to live? Let's meet soon. We will meet soon. Because he is someone I miss so much.]

Her parting words that this is not the end left a deep resonance among the mourners.

[Kim Hye-ja / Actor: I don't think of this as the end. We will meet again when we die, so don't call it the end. Depending on how you think about it, there is no end.]

Actor Song Seung-heon, who visited the wake during the day, remembered the late actor's warm heart.

[Song Seung-heon / Actor: He told me to treat him just like a father, and though he was intimidating to me at first, the warm memories of that time still remain with me.]

Debuting in 1959, the late actor received nationwide love through television dramas such as Chief Inspector and Rural Diaries.

The funeral for the deceased, who was also active in supporting children, will be held as a ChildFund Korea funeral, an organization where he once served as the head of the sponsorship committee.

The funeral mass for the deceased is scheduled to be held next Monday at Yeouido Catholic Church, and it will be presided over by Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, who baptized the late actor.

However, the bereaved family announced that they have decided not to disclose the schedule for the funeral procession.

(Video by Kang Si-woo | Video Editing by Shin Se-eun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.