Actor Kang Soo-youn remains in a coma after sudden cardiac arrest

Kang Soo-youn [JOONGANG ILBO]

Actor Kang Soo-youn remains in a coma as of Friday morning after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest.

On Thursday, the 55-year-old actor was found unconscious at her home in Gangnam District, southern Seoul and was transported to hospital.

Kang is one of Korea’s most critically acclaimed actors who rose to global stardom after becoming the first Korean actor to win the best actress award at the Venice International Film Festival in 1987 for her role in the film “The Surrogate Womb” (1987).

She also won the best actress award at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1989 for the film “Come, Come, Come Upward” (1989). Both the aforementioned films were directed by Im Kwon-taek.

Kang also saw success in the 1990s with films “All That Falls Has Wings” (1990), “The Road to Racetrack” (1991) and “Blue in You” (1992).

She served as a co-executive director of the Busan International Film Festival from 2015 to 2017.

This year she was expected to make her first return to the silver screen in nine years in director Yeon Sang-ho’s sci-fi film “Jung_E.”

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]