Choi Eun-hee

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Film scene from A Hometown in Heart (마음 의 고향, 1949)
Film scene from A Hometown in Heart (마음 의 고향, 1949)

Korean spelling
Hangeul 최은희
Hanja 崔 銀 姬
Revised
Romanization 		Choe Eun-hui
McCune-
Reischauer 		Ch'oe Ǔnhŭi

Choi Eun-hee ( November 20, 1926 - April 16, 2018 ) was a South Korean actress .

Choi Eun-hee began her film acting career in 1947. She was a celebrated film star in South Korea in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1953 she married the film producer and director Shin Sang-ok , with whom she ran the production company Shin Films . She starred in numerous Shins films. Their marriage ended in divorce in the 1970s.

Choi gained international fame less through her services as an actress than through her spectacular kidnapping by the future North Korean head of state Kim Jong-il . In 1978 Choi was invited to Hong Kong by supposed film producers to discuss possible engagements. In Hong Kong, Choi was abducted by North Korean agents on a ship that was heading for the North Korean port of Namp'o . After several days of voyage, the ship docked at the destination port, where Choi said he was personally greeted by Kim Jong-il. Choi's ex-husband Shin Sang-ok was also kidnapped to North Korea. Kim Jong-il planned to bring North Korean cinema to an international level with the two stars of South Korean film. It wasn't until 1983 that Choi and Shin met at one of Kim's dinner parties in Pyongyang and learned that they had met the same fate. As a result, several North Korean films were made with Choi in the lead role and directed by Shin Sang-oks, the most famous of which is Pulgasari , a fantasy film similar to the Japanese Godzilla series. In 1986 Choi and Shin, who had since remarried under pressure from Kim Jong-il, escaped on a trip to Vienna . They applied for political asylum at the local US embassy .

After her return from North Korea, Choi Eun-hee was unable to build on her successes from before the kidnapping.

Web links

literature

  • Michael Breen, Kim Jong Il: North Korea's "Beloved Leader," European Publishing House , 2004, ISBN 3434505857

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Park Jin-hai: Actress Choi Eun-hee dies at 92. In: The Korean Times. April 16, 2018, accessed April 16, 2018 .
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Choi is the family name here, Eun-hee is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Choi, Eun-hee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 최은희 (Hangul); 崔 銀 姬 (Hanja)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South Korean actress
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1926
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 2018