Choi Jin-sil's 35-Year-Old Fan Letter Reply Resurfaces, Moving Fans to Tears

The warmth of late Korean screen icon Choi Jin-sil is touching hearts all over again, thanks to a handwritten reply she sent a fan 35 years ago that has just resurfaced.

On January 18, a post on an online forum went viral after a user shared that they’d received a personal response from Choi back in middle school―an answer to a letter they’d mailed on a whim. “I didn’t expect anything, so when a real reply arrived days later, I was over the moon,” the fan wrote, calling the note a “treasure” rediscovered while cleaning their desk. “In today’s digital world, that analog magic feels even more precious.”

The letter, dated November 15, 1991, features Choi’s own handwriting. Despite a packed shooting schedule at the time, the star took the time to craft a thoughtful note―an act of kindness that’s drawing admiration decades later.

“You must be busy with school, but thank you for writing to me,” Choi wrote, encouraging the young fan to “make plenty of beautiful memories” at an age when they mean the most. She even sprinkled in playful humor, joking that if anyone insisted a manager or relative wrote it for her, the fan should set them straight―complete with a cheeky little doodle to seal the point.

Choi rocketed to fame in 1988 as a commercial model and, by 1991, had cemented her status as a leading actress with the film "Susan Brink’s Arirang." For the next two decades, she became one of Korea’s most beloved stars across film and television. Her death on October 2, 2008, at 39, shocked the entertainment industry and the nation alike, but memories like this keep her generous spirit alive. 

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)