Late Korean actor Kang Soo-youn laid to rest

Actors Jung Woo-sung, left, and Seol Kyung-gu, carry late actor Kang Soo-youn's coffin after her funeral on Wednesday. [ILGAN SPORTS]

Late Korean actor Kang Soo-youn’s funeral was held Wednesday at Samsung Medical Center’s funeral hall in southern Seoul. Kang died of a cerebral hemorrhage on Saturday. She was 55.

Dozens of Kang’s colleagues in the movie industry attended the ceremony. Film directors Im Kwon-taek and Yeon Sang-ho, actors Seol Kyung-gu and Moon So-ri as well as Kim Dong-ho, founder and former chairman of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), gave speeches in commemoration of their friend and colleague. From 2015 to 2017, Kang served as co-executive director of BIFF.

“We are here today with truly bitter hearts,” said Kim. Also in attendance were filmmakers Lee Woo-suk, Chung Ji-young and Jung Jin-woo and actors Kim Ji-mi, Park Jeong-ja, Park Joong-hoon, Son Suk and Ahn Sung-ki.

“She was a star of the Busan International Film Festival. She never missed a year. She wore the crown of a world star at a young age and lived a great life to protect that crown,” Kim added.

“We were all so happy to see her back on the big screen,” he continued. “No one imagined that it would be her last.”

After taking a nine-year break, Kang recently returned to the movie industry with "Jung_E," a Netflix film directed by Yeon that wrapped filming in January.

Actor Moon read her speech through tears. She said the “world of movies may not exist on this earth” and that Kang will be able to meet all the late film stars in heaven and can have all the fun there making a new film.

Kang was cremated and her remains were taken to Yongin Memorial Park in Gyeonggi.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]