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The late comedian Seo Se-won (Yonhap) |
Comedian-turned-pastor Seo Se-won passed away at a hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia at age 67 on Thursday.
According to reports, the veteran comedian was announced dead at around 3 p.m. after experiencing cardiac arrest at around 1 p.m. He was reportedly getting an IV at a Korean hospital there. He reportedly moved to the country for business.
Seo debuted on a program that aired on the local radio station TBC in 1979. He became famous for hosting several hit talk shows including the "Seo Se-won Show" in the 1990s. He was awarded with the Culture Ministry’s minister's award for his active career in the entertainment industry in 1997.
In 2001, he entered the film industry by becoming the producer behind the hit action comedy “My Wife Is a Gangster.” However, a few years later he was embroiled in a corruption scandal and left the industry for good.
According to the industry, he was ordained as a Christian minister in 2011.
In 2015, Seo divorced his wife and actor Seo Jeong-hee after she revealed that she had been suffering from a 32-year-long severely abusive relationship. Video footage from 2014 showing Seo dragging his wife into an elevator shocked the public. Seo was sentenced to six months in jail and two years of probation.
In 2016, Seo married a Korean traditional string instrument player surnamed Kim, who is 23 years his junior. They have a child.
He is also survived by two children with his first wife -- TV personality Seo Dong-ju and singer Seo Dong-cheon, also known as Miro.
