Actor Yoon Jeong-hee is dead at 79

Actor Yoon Jeong-hee [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Actor Yoon Jeong-hee (real name Sohn Mi-ja) has passed away. She was 79 years old.

The late Yoon was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and passed away in Paris on Thursday afternoon, according to insiders in the film industry.

Yoon previously announced publicly that she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Her husband, renowned pianist Paik Kun-woo, said in a broadcasted interview that the news “is not a pleasant one, but we’ve come to a stage where we can’t hide it anymore and it seemed that the people who love my wife should know about her condition.”

Born in Busan in 1944, Yoon studied English at Chosun University and made her debut in the 1967 film “Story of The Youth.”

Yoon enjoyed great popularity as a movie star in the 1960s and 70s. She married Paik in 1976 and the pair had a daughter together while living in Paris. Their daughter Paik Jin-hee is currently a violinist playing with an orchestra in France.

An MBC program “PD Note” raised suspicions in an episode titled “Missing Actor, Two Faces of Adult Guardianship” that Yoon’s daughter, who is her guardian, was mistreating and neglecting her, but acting as her guardian in order to get her hands on Yoon's assets. Paik denied the claims saying that it is the siblings who want to get their hands on the money by becoming her guardian.

The conflict between the Paiks and Yoon’s siblings first came to light in early 2021 when the siblings posted an online petition on the Blue House website, asking the government to help bring back “our beloved actor Yoon Jeong-hee, who is living like a prisoner in Paris.”

Yoon’s siblings had filed a lawsuit against the Paiks in relation to Yoon’s custody about two years ago, which they lost.

BY LIM JEONG-WON, YIM SEUNG-HYE [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]