Designer Park Sul-hee has personally crafted the burial clothes for the late veteran actor Choi Bul-am.
Choi Bul-am passed away at 10:30 p.m. on the 29th at the age of 86. He reportedly closed his eyes while receiving treatment at a hospital in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, due to recent health deterioration. His wake has been set up at the Asan Medical Center funeral hall, and general mourners are being welcomed starting at 10 a.m. that day.
Park Sul-hee visited the mortuary in the morning to mourn the late actor’s final journey. She described him as a born actor, stating, "His interviews touched the hearts of young people, and his words and actions were worthy of emulation."
Regarding the burial clothes, she revealed that she prepared the type of traditional Korean hanbok that the deceased loved during his lifetime.
She mentioned that preparation for the burial clothes began about a year ago, and she received a request from the bereaved family to proceed in earnest two to three weeks prior.
Representing South Korea as a national actor, the deceased was born in Incheon on June 15, 1940, and began his acting career in 1959 with the play ‘Hamlet’. Afterward, he passed through the National Theater Company and advanced into broadcasting, establishing himself as a representative actor of South Korea.
During his 60-year acting career, he was an actor who shared the joys and sorrows of modern South Korean history with the public. He received the love of the people as Chief Park in the drama ‘Chief Inspector’ and Chairman Kim in ‘Country Diaries’, and conveyed the lives of ordinary neighbors and the sentiment of our society through ‘Korean Table’.
In addition, the deceased spent many years working for children and adolescents placed in difficult environments, and particularly poured his efforts into providing juvenile prisonersโwho had fallen away from social attentionโwith opportunities for a new start through education and culture and arts. In 1994, he donated his advertisement fees to his alma mater, Incheon Sinhung Elementary School, to replace old desks and chairs, contributing to the improvement of educational environments for children. The funeral of the late actor will be held as a Green Umbrella Children’s Foundation funeral.
