Veteran Korean actress Kang Soo-yeon dies at 55

Award-winning Korean actress Kang Soo-yeon passed away on May 5 at about 5 pm in a hospital in Seoul. The 55-year-old died of a cardiac arrest and cerebral haemorrhage.

Kang, who was born in Seoul in 1966, began her career as a child actor in the 1970s. She gained national recognition with A High School Student’s Diary on KBS 1TV (1983–1984), and the comedy films Whale Hunting 2 (1985) and Mimi and Cheolsu’s Youth Sketch (1987).

At 21, she won the best actress award at the 1987 Venice Film Festival for her role in Im Kwon-taek’s The Surrogate Womb. Two years later in 1989, she won best actress for Come, Come, Come Upward –– another film from the same director — at the Moscow International Film Festival.

More recently, Kang switched to television, appearing in Ladies of the Palace (2001–02) on SBS TV. Her last film that was released during her lifetime was Juri (2013).

Kang Soo Yeon was promoting without an agency and recently wrapped up filming for the upcoming Netflix film JUNG_E. The movie is directed by Yeon Sang-ho and completed filming in January 2022. It will be released posthumously later in the year.

She was one of the first Korean actresses to garner international acclaim between the mid-1980s and the 90s giving her the title Korea’s first world star.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kang’s memorial service has been set up at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul. Her funeral ceremony will be held on Wednesday (May 11) and will be broadcast live through the Korean Film Council’s YouTube channel.

The funeral committee will be led by Kim Dong-ho, former chairperson of the board of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

“Kang broke boundaries with her fearless performances. Winning two major international awards, she was the first generation world-class actor. She also had strong leadership and charisma. Her legacy will live on in the movies she has made,” said Kim.

From 2015 till 2017, Kang served as a co-director of the BIFF. BIFF also paid tribute to Kang following her passing on social media: “Former executive chairman Kang Soo-yeon has worked hard to spread Korean movies to the world”.

Similarly Netflix Korea also paid tribute to the actress posting on Instagram;

“It was an honour to be with the late Kang Soo-yeon, who always showed great acting and good energy on the set. We will not forget every moment of actress Kang Soo-yeon who did her best for good work”.