Family members and colleagues bid farewell to the deceased at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on the 9th, where the funeral for ‘National Actor’ Ahn Sung-ki was held. Reporter Moon Jae-won

Family members and colleagues bid farewell to the deceased at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on the 9th, where the funeral for ‘National Actor’ Ahn Sung-ki was held.Reporter Moon Jae-won

Family members and colleagues bid farewell to the deceased at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on the 9th, where the funeral for ‘National Actor’ Ahn Sung-ki was held. Reporter Moon Jae-won

Family members and colleagues bid farewell to the deceased at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on the 9th, where the funeral for ‘National Actor’ Ahn Sung-ki was held. Reporter Moon Jae-won

‘National Actor’ Ahn Sung-ki has entered eternal rest.

At 7 a.m. on the 9th, the bereaved family and fellow actors departed from the funeral hall at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital and headed to Myeongdong Cathedral in Jung-gu, Seoul. Jung Woo-sung and Lee Jung-jae, actors from the same agency Artist Company, carried the portrait and the Gold Crown Order of Cultural Merit, while Seol Kyung-gu·Park Chul-min·Yoo Ji-tae·Park Hae-il·Cho Woo-jin·Joo Ji-hoon served as pallbearers.

At 8 a.m., a memorial Mass praying for the repose of the deceased was held at Myeongdong Cathedral, presided over by Archbishop Jeong Sun-taek of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul. From 9 a.m., the funeral service was held, and family and colleagues saw him off on his final journey.

Kim Du-ho, a director of the Shin Young-kyun Arts and Culture Foundation where the deceased had served as board chair during his lifetime, delivered the rsum, and the eulogies were read by Jung Woo-sung and funeral committee chair, Director Bae Chang-ho. The deceased’s eldest son, Da-bin, offered remarks on behalf of the bereaved family.

After the funeral service, the deceased was taken to his burial site, Byeolgeurida in Yangpyeong.

The late Ahn Sung-ki debuted at age five in 1957 with Director Kim Ki-young’s film ‘Twilight Train’, and for 69 years appeared in around 170 films, serving as a symbolic face of Korean cinema. He was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2019 and underwent treatment. He was declared cured in 2020, but it later recurred, and he focused on recovery. Then, on the 30th of last month, he collapsed with food lodged in his throat and was admitted to the intensive care unit, and after six days, on the 5th, he passed away.

The government posthumously awarded him the Gold Crown Order of Cultural Merit on the day he passed away.