lit a candle 3h agoNever knew his name until today, found a subtitled clip from Country Diaries my pastor shared years back. He said once, "We have to know what children dream of, and watching over them seems to be the duty of us adults." That's the one I keep thinking about tonight.
Their story
Choi Bool-am, born Choi Young-han, was a South Korean actor, television presenter and one-term lawmaker whose warm, unhurried screen presence earned him the nickname "the nation's father". Over a career of about 67 years he moved between the stage, film and television, but he was best known for three marathon…
Choi Bool-am, born Choi Young-han, was a South Korean actor, television presenter and one-term lawmaker whose warm, unhurried screen presence earned him the nickname "the nation's father". Over a career of about 67 years he moved between the stage, film and television, but he was best known for three marathon roles: the incorruptible detective chief Park Young-han in MBC's Chief Inspector, which ran for 18 years between 1971 and 1989; the village elder Kim Hoe-jang of Yangchon-ri in Country Diaries, Korea's longest-running drama, from 1980 to 2002; and the travelling host of KBS 1TV's Korean Cuisine and Dining (The Korean Table) from January 2011 until 2025.
Choi was born in 1939 in Geumgok-dong in Incheon, then under Japanese rule; his family register recorded the year as 1940. He was the only son of Choi Cheol, a businessman who died suddenly when Choi was eight, and Lee Myeong-suk, who later ran Eunseong, a Myeongdong drinking house frequented by poets and writers. He studied at Jungang Middle and High School in Seoul, where he joined the theatre club, then at Seorabeol Art College and Hanyang University's department of theatre and film.
He made his stage debut in 1959 in Hamlet with the Experimental Theatre group and joined the National Theater Company in 1965. He performed under the stage name Bool-am (佛岩); his real name was shared by the politician Choi Byung-yul, one reason later cited for using it. In 1967 he was recruited as a KBS television actor and made his drama debut playing the elderly general Kim Jong-seo in Prince Suyang, the first of many old-man roles he took while still young. He moved to MBC when it launched television broadcasting in 1969.
Chief Inspector made him a household name and helped shape the Korean police procedural; in recognition, the police made him an honorary officer in 1972 and in 2024 named him the first civilian honorary head of the National Office of Investigation. In Country Diaries he and Kim Hye-ja played a farming couple so convincingly for 22 years that many viewers assumed they were married in real life. He also played Syngman Rhee in The 1st Republic and The 2nd Republic, a young Chung Ju-yung in The 25 O'Clock of Ambition, and memorable parts in Eyes of Dawn, You and I, Princess Hours and Gourmet. On film he appeared in dozens of titles including Yeong-ja's Heydays, Good Windy Day and The Last Witness, winning Grand Bell Awards for best supporting actor (1978) and best actor (1979).
At the urging of Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung, Choi entered politics in 1992 and served in the 14th National Assembly as a national-list member for the Unification National Party. After losing a Seoul constituency race in 1996 as a New Korea Party candidate, he returned to acting through Country Diaries.
Later he became a respected presenter, fronting KBS's consumer and civic affairs programme Good Country Movement Headquarters from 1999 to 2008 and then Korean Cuisine and Dining, which carried him across Korea and to diaspora communities abroad for 14 years. His tilted-head "paha" laugh became a national trademark, and in the 1990s a wave of affectionate jokes known as the "Choi Bool-am series" made him a figure of popular humour. For more than four decades he championed children's causes, serving as national supporters' chair of the ChildFund Korea (Green Umbrella) children's foundation.
Choi married actress Kim Min-ja in 1970 after a four-year courtship; they had a son, Choi Dong-nyeok, and a daughter, Choi Dong-bi. After spinal disc surgery in March 2025 he stepped away from Korean Cuisine and Dining and concentrated on rehabilitation, and in May 2026 MBC aired the two-part documentary "Paha, This Is Choi Bool-am" without him on camera at his family's request. He died at about 10 pm on 29 October 2026 at a hospital in Gangseo District, Seoul, where he was receiving inpatient treatment after his health deteriorated sharply. He was 87.
Biography adapted from Yonhap News Agency obituary (30 October 2026), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), Korean Wikipedia, KBS. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“Actually, broadcast actors are all gwangdae (traditional entertainers) too.”
2018 interview on returning to the stage after 25 years, quoted by Yonhap News TV, 30 October 2026 (translated from Korean)
“I told him it is gathering many people, hearing their opinions and passing on the stories of how the world lives. Then he said, 'So you have become a gwangdae.'”
Recalling his grandfather's question about what theatre was for, 2018 interview quoted by Yonhap News TV (translated from Korean)
“We have to know what children dream of, and watching over them seems to be the duty of us adults.”
2018 remarks for ChildFund Korea, quoted by Yonhap News TV (translated from Korean)
“Let's have a drink when I get out of hospital.”
To Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young during a 2026 hospital visit, reported by Channel A (translated from Korean)
Photos
2Choi Bool-am at G-Star 2008, KINTEX, Ilsan, November 2008
Nov 2008 · by People Forever
Choi Bool-am reciting a dedication poem at the 59th Memorial Day ceremony, Seoul National Cemetery, 6 June 2014
Jun 2014 · by People Forever
That line is everywhere in Korea too, he said it so often it became his.