Beloved screen icon Ahn Sung-ki has died at 74, and Korea’s film community is honoring him with the kind of reverence reserved for family.
Ahn passed away at 9 a.m. on the 5th at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Seoul, with his family by his side. Over a 69-year career, he appeared in 170 films, becoming a living chronicle of Korean cinema. News of his death left the industry―and the nation―deeply in mourning.
A film community funeral is being held under the auspices of the Shin Young-kyun Arts and Culture Foundation and the Korea Film Actors Association. Actor-producers Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung―Ahn’s juniors and heads of Artist Company―rushed to the hospital upon hearing the news, volunteered to serve as pallbearers, and spent hours at the hall receiving mourners alongside Ahn’s sons, Ahn Dabin and Ahn Phillip.
On day one, close confidants were among the first to arrive, including former Busan International Film Festival director Kim Dong-ho, directors Im Kwon-taek, Kang Woo-suk, and Lee Joon-ik, and actor Park Joong-hoon. Ninety-year-old Im Kwon-taek, supported by Park, fought back tears as he paid his final respects around 4 p.m.
Friends and admirers continued to stream in late into the night. Ahn’s middle-school classmate of six decades, singer Cho Yong-pil, visited, as did actors Lee Deok-hwa, Choi Soo-jong, Song Seung-heon, Kwon Sang-woo, and Park Jung-ja, singer Tae Jin-ah, and figures from government and business, including Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young, Cho Kuk of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin, former Doosan chairman Park Yong-maan, and novelist Kim Hong-shin.
Many directors and actors arrived straight from set, lingering to comfort the family and share stories of Ahn’s kindness and professionalism.
In recognition of his lifelong contributions to film and culture, the government posthumously awarded Ahn the Geumgwan Order of Cultural Merit―the nation’s highest cultural honor. Culture Minister Choi personally presented the medal to the family around 6:50 p.m.
The funeral will be held over five days, per the family’s wishes, and the public is welcome to pay respects. From the 6th to the 8th, a memorial space is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Seoul Film Center in Chungmuro.
The procession is scheduled for 6 a.m. on the 9th, with burial at Byeolgeurida in Yangpyeong.
Photo: Joint Press Corps
(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Ji-hye)