{"id":10689,"date":"2026-10-22T15:20:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=10689"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:20:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:20:50","slug":"at-85-kim-hye-ja-returns-to-film-after-turning-down-role-6-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=10689","title":{"rendered":"At 85, Kim Hye-ja returns to film after turning down role 6 times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kim Hye-ja \/ Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI just want to be like a nameless wildflower.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was what veteran actor Kim Hye-ja told director Song Il-gon last year when he visited her home in Yeonhui-dong, western Seoul, to ask her to star in his new film.<\/p>\n

Song, whose films include \u201cPicnic\u201d (1999), \u201cFlower Island\u201d (2001) and \u201cAlways\u201d (2011), was developing a movie about victims of Japan\u2019s wartime sexual slavery, and Kim was his first choice for the lead role.<\/p>\n

But Kim turned him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve never played a role like this before, and I’m scared, so I don’t want to do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Song persisted, even writing her a lengthy letter. After six attempts, Kim finally agreed.<\/p>\n

The result is \u201cStill Shining,\u201d which opened Wednesday and marks the actor’s first film in nine years, since \u201cThe Way\u201d in 2017. She turns 85 this year on Oct. 25.<\/p>\n

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A scene from “Still Shining” \/ Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What changed her mind was the way the film chose to remember the victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill Shining\u201d follows Sun-ok and Jeong-im, two 18-year-old girls living in a remote mountain village in 1942. Played in their youth by Park Seo-kyung and Choi Ju-eun, the inseparable friends spend their days gathering firewood and wild greens in the mountains while dreaming of someday moving to Seoul. Jeong-im wants to become a singer, while Sun-ok dreams of running a theater company.<\/p>\n

Then rumors begin spreading through the village that girls are being taken away under the pretense of employment at factories in Japan. The friends hide together in a secluded place, but their lives are abruptly torn apart when Jeong-im is forcibly taken away.<\/p>\n

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A scene from “Still Shining” \/ Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The film moves between the two teenagers and the women they become six decades later. Kim plays the elderly Sun-ok, while Cha Mi-kyung plays Jeong-im.<\/p>\n

Sun-ok spends her life unable to escape the guilt of having survived while her friend was taken away as a so-called \u201ccomfort woman,\u201d a euphemism for victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery.<\/p>\n

Yet rather than dwelling primarily on the guilt of those left behind, the film devotes much of its attention to the victims’ youth, aspirations and lives before tragedy engulfed them. In imagined musical sequences, Sun-ok and Jeong-im sing and dance exuberantly, as if they had really made it to Seoul and fulfilled their dreams.<\/p>\n

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A handwritten letter from actor Kim Hye-ja, who plays Sun-ok in the film \u201cStill Shining,\u201d to reporters \/ Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That perspective ultimately persuaded Kim to accept the role.<\/p>\n

Kim was unable to attend a press screening at Megabox Coex in southern Seoul on Oct. 15 because of a cold, but sent reporters a handwritten letter explaining her decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must remember how much those girls suffered,\u201d Kim said. \u201cBut I also hope we don’t forget how beautifully they wanted to live. That’s why I decided I had to make this film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Director<\/picture>
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Director Song Il-gon \/ Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Song’s letter to Kim also played a role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a line in the letter: \u2018Sun-ok does not cry. She is someone who believes until the very end that the time she spent with her friend is still shining,\u2019\u201d Kim said. \u201cThose words stayed with me for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope people don’t see these two girls merely as one painful scene in history,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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A poster for “Still Shining” \/ Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indeed, \u201cStill Shining\u201d seeks to bring victims of wartime sexual slavery out of the confines of distant historical tragedy and place them beside the audience as talented, warmhearted friends with ordinary dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWartime sexual slavery is a subject that still needs to be explored from many different perspectives,\u201d Song said during an interview at a cafe in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Monday.<\/p>\n

Of the 240 victims officially registered with the Korean government, only five remain alive.<\/p>\n

Kim’s portrayal of the pain carried by those who survived is restrained but powerful. Song said that once she decided to take the role, Kim immersed herself in the character to a degree that surprised even him.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe never treated a single word casually,\u201d Song said. \u201cShe repeated the line, \u2018When did you get here?\u2019 dozens, even hundreds of times as she searched for the character.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was particularly struck while filming Kim’s final lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got chills, thinking, \u2018How can someone make an expression like that?\u2019\u201d Song said. \u201cIt is the most beautiful close-up I’ve ever filmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStill Shining\u201d opened Wednesday and is rated for audiences 12 and older.<\/p>\n

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Kim Hye-ja \/ Courtesy of Plus M Entertainment \u201cI just want to be like a nameless wildflower.\u201d That was what veteran actor Kim Hye-ja told director Song Il-gon last year when he visited her home in Yeonhui-dong, western Seoul, to ask her to star in his new film. Song, whose films include \u201cPicnic\u201d (1999), \u201cFlower…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-korea","category-trending-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t