The funeral for the late Korean actress Kim Sae-ron was held on Feb. 19 in South Korea.
The funeral service was held at 6:20 a.m. KST at the Asan Medical Center funeral hall in Seoul with family and friends in attendance. The burial site was the Tongil-ro Memorial Park in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
Those who attended the funeral included Kim Bo-ra, Kwon Hyun-bin, and AB6IX's Park Woo-jin, the Korea Herald reported.
According to the Seongdong Police, Kim Sae-ron, 24, was found dead at her home in Seongdong, Seoul on Feb. 16.
“An acquaintance who had arranged to meet Kim that day found her and reported her to the police at around 4:54 p.m. There were no signs of criminal suspicion such as external intrusion, and we are continuing to investigate the circumstances of death," the police said.
Korean actress Kim Sae-ron (Instagram)
The memorial altar for Kim Sae-ron and the hearse (Screenshots from TV Daily, YTN videos on YouTube)
At a regular briefing by the National Investigation Headquarters held Feb. 17, the police said, “We believe she made an extreme choice. We plan to handle this as a case of unnatural death,” Korean media reported.
Among those who went to the funeral hall to pay their respects were celebrities Won Bin, Han So-hee, Kim Bo-ra, AKMU’s Lee Su-hyun and Lee Chan-hyuk, Choi Hyun-wook, Kim Sung-kyun, Ryu Da-in, Seo Kang-joon, Kim Young-ok and Jang Seong-gyu.
Won Bin and Kim Sae-ron starred in the 2010 film “Man From Nowhere.”
Thai actor Thanayong Wongtrakul, who also appeared in “Man From Nowhere” paid tribute to Kim Sae-ron by posting their photo on Instagram and writing, “Sorry for your loss. My heart goes out to their families.R.I.P kim sae-Ron.”
Korean actor Won Bin (Screenshot from YTN video on YouTube)
Actress Kim Min-chae posted this photo on Instagram to remember Kim Sae-ron (Instagram)
Chrysanthemum flowers posted by Seo Ha-joon, Seo Yea-ji and Kim Ok-bin on Instagram for Kim Sae-ron (Instagram)
Thai actor Thanayong Wongtrakul with Kim Sae-ron on the set of the movie “Man From Nowhere” (Instagram)
Stars who sent funeral wreaths included boy band ASTRO, IU, Gong Myung, Lee Jung Yong, Ma Dong Seok and FT Island
Other stars posted on their social media accounts to express their condolences to Kim Sae-ron. Among them were Kim Min-chae, Kim Ok-bin, Seo Yea-ji, Choi Yoo-jung, Seo Ha-jun, Jang Do-yoon, Jung Jae-kwang, Na Hyun, Park Hyun-soo, Seol In-ah. SF9 member Zuho, Shim Eun- kyung and Park Joo-hyun.
Kim Sae-ron debuted as a child actress in the 2009 film “lm A Brand New Life.” In 2010, she starred alongside Won Bin in the box office hit film “The Man from Nowhere.”
For her role in the film, Kim Sae-ron won best new actress at the Korean Film Awards.
But Kim Sae-ron’s career came to a hal in May 2022 when she was involved in a drunk driving incident.
The case stemmed from an incident on May 18, 2022 when a drunk Kim Sae-ron was driving in Cheongdam, Gangnam in Seoul. She crashed her car and hit a guardrail, tree and a transformer. When she hit the transformer, it caused a power outage affecting 57 business establishments in the area for three hours. She paid the business establishments that were affected by the incident.
In April 2023, the Seoul Central District Court found her guilty and was fined 20 million won (about $13,874) for drunk driving.
Her last project was the film “Guitar Man,” which she finished filming in November.
A person close to Kim Sae-ron told Korean media outlet Osen that she was planning to make a comeback with the film “Guitar Man.”
"The last time I saw Kim Sae-ron was at the end of last year. She was planning to return with the movie 'Guitar Man' and then act and make money, but I didn't know it would turn out like this," the person said.
The person added, “She was preparing to open a cafe and was about to return to the entertainment industry. Even I can't believe it. She avoided her original cafe schedule to film a project, but it wasn't easy, so she ended up quitting the cafe. She prepared to open a cafe with her acquaintances and also made plans to move. There was no sign of it, and I told her to call me if she was having a hard time.”
Korean media outlet TV Daily reported that after the drunk driving incident, Kim Sae-ron faced financial difficulty as her career was on hiatus.
The report stated that Kim Sae-ron owed her former agency, Gold Medalist, 700 million won (about $485,000), which was paid by the company as settlement and penalty on her behalf.
Kim Sae-ron’s fans decried how the Korean public harshly criticized Kim Sae-ron for the drunk driving incident. The actress faced intense criticisms from Korean netizens following the incident.