Lee Keum-hee, a 60-year-old broadcaster and former KBS announcer, has lost her mother.
Kang Soon-sik, Lee's mother, died of old age on the 14th at age 92, according to News1 on the 17th.
Lee learned of her mother's death while filming a broadcaster's program in Uzbekistan. Despite her grief, she completed all of the local shoot to avoid disrupting the production team, returned to South Korea on the 16th and then arranged her mother's wake.
In December last year, Lee appeared on Channel A's "Close Friend Talkumentary — Table for Four" and said, "My mother became seriously ill starting in August 2024." She added, "Fortunately my mother is strong and pulled through, but I could not sleep properly because I was so worried about her."
The wake is being held in Special Room No. 1 at the funeral hall of Chunggu Sungsim Hospital in Seoul's Eunpyeong district, with the funeral procession set for the morning of the 19th. The burial site is Heungchangsa.
Lee began her broadcasting career in 1989 as a KBS announcer in the network's 16th class of hires and left KBS in 2000. Even after going freelance, she continued hosting KBS 1TV's "Morning Plaza" without a break until 2016, an unusual arrangement. She remains active across a range of programs.
Lee recently donated her talent to the production of "Narang Narang Dagachi," a song for young Korean-language learners around the world, alongside singer Lee Sun-hee. Lee Keum-hee wrote the lyrics, weaving the principles behind the creation of Hangul and a message of its global reach into warm verse. Lee Sun-hee composed and performed the song, using her distinctive vocals to convey the rhythm of Hangul's consonants and vowels and of native Korean words.
News1
