Actor Kim Min-kyo reminisced about his late father.
On the 15th, Channel A’s ‘Close Friend Documentary: Four-Person Dining Table’ featured Lee Pil-mo inviting Lee Jong-hyuk and Kim Min-kyo to share their stories.
On that day, Kim Min-kyo said, “I lived really well until my third year of high school. After that, everything fell apart. My father was the director of a general hospital. But he was scammed badly.”
He continued, “My mother wiped dishes while supporting her children. I also did a lot of manual labor to earn school fees. I laid down paving stones in front of a girls' high school. I also built a building in Hwayang-ri,” he joked.
Kim Min-kyo shared, “When I came home on my first military leave, my mother said, ‘Your father has become a monk.’ I think he felt disillusioned with the world after being scammed. When I visited the temple to greet him, he said, ‘From now on, don’t call me father, call me monk.’”
He added, “It was really tough at that time. I thought it would hurt too much to see him, so I didn’t meet him for 15 years. Then my mother told me, ‘Your father has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.’ I couldn’t avoid seeing him. At that time, I had some resentment, but I felt that I had to be with him in the end.”
Kim Min-kyo rented a house near the temple and visited his father every day. He said, “I invited my father to the performances I directed and acted in. If there were extra seats, I invited friends to fill the audience. I wanted my father to feel proud.”
In particular, Kim Min-kyo mentioned, “When I introduced my girlfriend to my father, he told me to get married. I had no intention of marrying, but I asked my girlfriend, ‘Will you marry me?’ and she said yes. So, we held our wedding before my father passed away.”
He continued, “The only regret I have is that I couldn’t show him my success with ‘SNL.’ If I had just held on for another year and a half,” he said, with tears in his eyes.
In response, Park Kyung-rim comforted him, saying, “The last three years with your father must have felt like 30 years of happiness. And even though he can’t see it right now, he will be watching over your success.”
[Lee Se-bin, Star Today Guest Reporter]
