The week starts with on terribly sad note as the Korean entertainment newspapers have confirmed that veteran actress Kim Ja Ok has passed away. She was only 63 years old and left the world too early after losing her battle with lung cancer on the early morning of November 16th in a Seoul hospital. To Hallyu drama viewers she’s probably best known for playing the mom to various K-drama leads, such as Sam Soon’s mom in My Name is Kim Sam Soon or Han Kyul’s mom in Coffee Prince, but she’s been acting for 40 years starting off as a leading lady herself.

She was one of my favorite veteran mom actresses and am truly saddened that she couldn’t shine her acting light on the world longer. She had been fighting the aggressive cancer since March of this year after wrapping the long weekend drama Thrice Married Woman where she played the male lead’s mom. Before TMW she got to take a wonderful trip with the cast of Noonas Over Flowers to visit Eastern Europe where errand boy Lee Seung Gi took care of her and the rest of the noonas. It’s on that show where I got to glimpse the real Kim Ja Ok and found her charming and sweet. Continue reading →