Lee Soon-jae, South Korea’s oldest active actor, has died at 91. Born in Hoeryong and a graduate of Seoul National University (philosophy), he debuted on stage in 1956 and became a KBS first-generation (KBS 1st cohort) talent in 1960. Over a career spanning decades, he appeared in around 140 dramas from historical sagas (sageuk) such as Heo Jun and Isan to popular family and sitcom hits like Love Is What and High Kick! He won the 2024 KBS Drama Awards Grand Prize for the comedy-drama Gaesori and returned to the stage in later years with productions including King Lear and The Seagull (Anton Chekhov). He also served three terms as head of the Korean Broadcasting Actors Association and was briefly a National Assembly member elected in 1992. Until health issues forced a pause in October, he was active in both theater and television and taught as a distinguished professor at Gachon University’s acting department.
