Singer Yang Hee-eun, 73, shared the final messages she exchanged with late comedian Jeon Yoo-sung, expressing her heartbreak over a promise he couldn’t keep.
On the 25th, Yang posted a screenshot of their KakaoTalk chat on Instagram. In it, Jeon told her, “When I recover, I’ll come by first”―a visit he never got to make.
The place he meant was Iman Chongchong 31, a gallery-cafe in Buyeo, South Chungcheong. Yang opened the space to showcase her late mother’s artwork after her mother passed away on Jan. 4 last year. Jeon personally coined the name: “Iman Chongchong” is an old-fashioned sign-off from Korean letters, and “31” nods to the building’s past life as a post office constructed in 1931.
Yang and Jeon shared a decades-long bond. “We first crossed paths at the Cheonggaeguri Theater in the 1970s,” she recalled, noting their 55-year friendship. “Just days ago, I didn’t think it would be the last time. He said he’d come once he recovered, but he never could,” she wrote, mourning his loss.
Jeon died at 9:05 p.m. on the 25th at Jeonbuk National University Hospital. He was 76. A towering figure who helped pioneer experimental stages in Korean comedy, he’s remembered by colleagues and the public as a master of humor.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)