1. Choi Eun-hee was one of South Korea's most popular stars of the 1960s and 1970s.
11 Facts About Choi Eun-hee
1. 2.
Choi Eun-hee's first acting role was in the 1947 film A New Oath.
3.
Choi Eun-hee rose to fame the following year after starring in the 1948 film The Sun of Night and soon became known as one of the "troika" of Korean film, alongside actresses Kim Ji-mee and Um Aing-ran.
4.
Choi Eun-hee went on to act in over 130 films and was considered one of the biggest stars of South Korean film in the 1960s and 1970s.
5.
Choi Eun-hee starred in many of Shin's iconic films, including 1958's A Flower in Hell and 1961's The Houseguest and My Mother.
6.
In 1976, Choi Eun-hee divorced Shin after seeing news that he had fathered two children with young actress Oh Su-mi.
7.
Choi Eun-hee's career began to suffer after her divorce, and she traveled to Hong Kong in 1978 to meet with a person posing as a businessman who offered to set up a new film company with her.
8.
In Hong Kong, Choi Eun-hee was abducted and taken to North Korea by the order of Kim Jong Il.
9.
Kim had them make films together, including 1985's Salt, for which Choi Eun-hee won best actress at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival.
10.
Choi Eun-hee later said that the couple was able to make "films with artistic values, instead of just propaganda films extolling the regime," but that she could not forgive Kim for kidnapping her.
11.
Choi Eun-hee's death resulted in widespread mourning across South Korea.